Epidemiologic background and long‐term course of disease in human immunodeficiency virus type 1‐infected blood donors identified before routine laboratory screening. Transfusion Safety Study Group

Abstract

The high proportions of first-time donations and exclusively homosexual men among seropositive donors suggest that test-seeking may have contributed to the high HIV-1 prevalence in the repository. Implementation of alternative test sites when routine donor screening began in 1985 may have averted many high-risk donations. The disease course in HIV-1-infected donors had the same wide spectrum of immunologic and clinical manifestations as were reported for other cohorts.