Increasing prevalence of HIV-infected blood donations in Eastern Europe

There is considerable variation in the prevalence of HIV-infected blood donations across Europe and unless action is taken to tighten up screening, some countries in Eastern Europe risk HIV-infected blood donations entering the blood supply, according to a survey published in the May 24^th edition of Eurosurveillance Weekly Release

Protecting the blood supply from HIV and other blood-borne infections has been an issue of international concern in the past week.

Earlier this week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reaffirmed its blanket ban on gay men ever giving blood.

In the period between 2000 and 2004, the prevalence of HIV-infected donations was 8.7 per 100,000 across Europe. However, there were significant regional variations. In Western Europe 1.7 donations per 100,000 were infected with HIV. This increased to 2.4 per 100,000 in Central Europe, and to 36.7 per 100,000 in Eastern Europe. The highest prevalence of HIV-infected donations was in the Ukraine where 128.4 per 100,000 individuals tested HIV-positive.

Further analysis showed that the prevalence of HIV-infected blood donations has fallen steadily in Western Europe since the 1990s, and remained stable in Central Europe. However, in Eastern Europe, the prevalence increased from less than one donation per 100,000 in 1995 to 40.3 per 100,000 in 2004. “This trend is a reflection of the development of the HIV epidemic in those regions, with many countries in the east experiencing high ongoing transmission of HIV, in particular among injecting drug users, and a large pool of newly infected potential blood donors have not yet been diagnosed”, write the authors.

Concerns are also raised about the safety of the blood supply in Eastern Europe, and the authors highlight “an urgent need to implement public health measures such as deferring individuals at high risk of HIV from donating blood and maintaining a pool of regular donors.”