More than 550 people who received blood transfusions have gone to their general practitioner for an HIV test, as part of the Blood Transfusion Service Board's screening programme for the virus. All the samples sent by GPs and tested by the Virus Reference Laboratory have been negative to date, according to Dr Emer Lawlor, the BTSB's director of the HIV screening service. A helpline set up by the BTSB has received 1,181 calls since it was set up on October 6th.
The BTSB set up the service for people who may have been exposed to the risk of HIV infection from a blood transfusion or other blood products produced before the introduction of HIV screening of blood donations in 1985.
"We are maintaining close contact with the Virus Reference Laboratory and continue to monitor testing results as they are available. We remain confident that the numbers of transfusion recipients who might test positive will be extremely low," said Dr Lawlor.