Proceedings of a consensus conference: Blood-borne HIV and hepatitis—Optimizing the donor selection process

Over the past several years, concern for the safety of blood transfusion has evolved from a primary focus on bacterial infections such as syphilis to viral infections including hepatitis B, C, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and most recently, the theoretical risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). As a result of these changes, blood bankers have found themselves faced with the dilemma of balancing the rights of transfusion …