"AIDS has changed forever the way doctors and patients think about
blood. And that's not a bad idea, said the doctors gathered at the
National Institutes of Health for a conference on blood
transfusion."—Washington Post, July 5, 1988.

The AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) pandemic has, with a
vengeance, awakened people to the danger of acquiring infectious
diseases from blood. Millions are now infected. It is spreading out of
control. And its death rate is virtually 100 percent.

AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which can be
spread by blood. The modern plague of AIDS came to light in 1981. The
very next year, health experts learned that the virus could probably
be passed on in blood products. It is now admitted that the blood
industry was slow to respond, even after tests were available to
identify blood containing HIV antibodies. Testing of donor blood
finally began in 1985, but even then it was not applied to blood
products that were already on the shelf.

Thereafter the public was assured, 'The blood supply is now safe.'
Later, however, it was revealed that there is a dangerous "window
period" for AIDS. After a person is infected, it could be months
before he produces detectable antibodies. Unaware that he harbors the
virus, he might donate blood that would test negative. This has
happened. People have developed AIDS after being transfused with such
blood!

The picture got even grimmer. The New England Journal of Medicine
(June 1, 1989) reported on "Silent HIV Infections." It was established
that people can carry the AIDS virus for years without its being
detectable by current indirect tests. Some would like to minimize
these as rare cases, but they prove "that the risk of AIDS
transmission via blood and its components cannot be totally
eliminated." (Patient Care, November 30, 1989) The disturbing
conclusion: A negative test cannot be read as a clean bill of health.
How many will yet get AIDS from blood?