THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, December 30, 1995            TAG: 9512300378
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: BOSTON                             LENGTH: Short :   41 lines

RISK OF AIDS FROM DONATED BLOOD IS LOWER THAN THOUGHT

Only about two dozen of the 12 million pints of blood used in transfusions each year are infected with the AIDS virus, a study has found.

Experts already knew that the risk of catching AIDS from a transfusion is very small. But the new study shows it is only about half as great as previously estimated.

Nevertheless, the Food and Drug Administration recently recommended that an additional test be performed on donated blood to make it even safer.

The analysis, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was based on a review of 9 million donations in 1992 and 1993. It was published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

People infected with HIV, the AIDS virus, make antibodies that circulate in their blood. Blood banks routinely test donated blood and throw away any that contains AIDS antibodies. However, the body does not produce the antibodies during the first few weeks of an AIDS infection.

The CDC estimates that one of every 360,000 donations is made during this window when tainted blood can slip through. Up to 42 percent of this blood is discarded because it fails to pass other tests. This means that between one in 450,000 and one in 660,000 screened donations contains HIV.

Donations are split up, so each produces an average of 1.8 transfusions. The average recipient receives blood from 5.4 different donors. So the risk that a patient getting blood will catch HIV is between one in 83,000 and one in 122,000.

The researchers said the risk of AIDS from transfusions has fallen for several reasons, including improved tests and a drop in donations from infected people.

KEYWORDS: AIDS BLOOD SUPPLY by CNB