Estimated Risk of Transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus by Screened Blood in the United States

Abstract

Background. In the United States, transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by blood transfusion occurs almost exclusively when a recently infected blood donor is infectious but before antibodies to HIV become detectable (during the "window period"). We estimated the risk of HIV transmission caused by transfusion on the basis of the window period associated with the use of current, sensitive enzyme immunosorbent assays and recent data on HIV incidence among blood donors. Methods. We analyzed demographic and laboratory data on more than 4.