Silent Sequences and the Safety of Blood Transfusions

Excerpt

The emergence of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has fueled concerns of both physicians and their patients about the safety of blood transfusions. In the spring of 1983, after recognizing that AIDS could be transmitted by infusions of blood and blood products, people at increased risk for AIDS were asked not to donate blood or plasma. Testing donated blood and plasma for antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), the causative agent of AIDS, was initiated by blood banks in 1985. A method for donors to exclude their units from the blood supply in a confidential manner was instituted in