Characteristics of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Reactive Blood Donors Following Nucleic Acid Amplification Test Screening

Background: The Korean Red Cross has established three nucleic acid amplification test (NAT) centers, and the organization has begun NAT screening for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) for domestic blood donors commencing from February 2005. As a result, between February 2005 and July 2006, it was found that 80 of a total of 3,481,972 donors that were screened were positive for HIV-1 as determined by the NAT. This report will describe the characteristics of the HIV-1 positive reactive donors.Methods: We attempted to determine the number of HIV-1 positive reactive donors for each NAT center, and attempted to characterize the donors by gender, age, RNA viral load, and the distribution of HIV-1 subtype.Results: Among the 80 HIV-1 positive reactive donors determined by the NAT, 57.5% of the donors were in their twenties and all but one of the donors was male. Of all of the donors, 82.5% were repeated donors and four donors showed antibody negative window periods. The average quantity of HIV-1 RNA for 78 donors was 1.12×105 copies/mL and for the four donors that showed the antibody negative window periods was 2.68×105 copies/mL. The HIV-1 subtypes of 76 cases were all B of group M.Conclusion: NAT screening contributes to the safety of the domestic blood supply. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to study the characteristics of the blood that was found to show HIV positivity by the NAT.(Korean J Blood Transfus 2007;18:202-208)