Rising trend of HIV infection with special reference to blood donors.

Screening for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in a total of 31,003 individuals in Pune, India, between August 1986 and June 1990 revealed a trend toward an increased incidence of infection and prompted calls for the screening of all donated blood. Among those tested were 20,321 blood donors, 10,712 visitors to the Osho International Commune, and 133 hospital patients (45 of whom had received multiple blood transfusions). All reactive blood samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology for confirmation by ELISA and Western blot. Of the 32 individuals (0.1%) who were seropositive, 22 were blood donors, 6 were patients, and 4 were visitors. All of the positive blood donors were males 21-42 years of age. Alarming was a statistically significant difference in the incidence of HIV seropositivity among donors before and after 1988. The incidence was 0.0% in 1986, 0.04% in 1987 and 1988, 0.15% in 1989, and 0.17% in 1990. Thus, screening of every unit of donated blood for antibodies to HIV and avoidance of unnecessary transfusions are urged to halt the further spread of infection.