TRANSFUSION-ACQUIRED AIDS IN TAIWAN

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) call be transmitted throug h blood transfusion. The first transfusion-acquired immunodeficiency s yndrome (AIDS) patient in Taiwan was a 46-year-old woman who received two units of whole blood during a hysterectomy at a provincial hospita l in 1985. In 1991, she experienced a her pes tester infection. In Mar ch 1993, she had extensive herpetic gingivostomatitis and another herp es tester attack, and was treated at the same hospital. Two months lat er, she had oral candidiasis and was treated at a medical center. She was not tested for HIV-1 infection until she developed Pneumocystis ca rinii pneumonia in June 1993. In February 1994, she developed cytomega lovirus retinitis and died 6 months later. Donor blood given to the pa tient during the hysterectomy was HIV-1 positive. The donor's HIV infe ction was discovered in 1991 and he died of AIDS in 1993. as blood cen ters in Taiwan did not start screening for HIV-1 until January 1988, i t is urgently recommended that any individual who received a blood tra nsfusion between 1984 and 1987 in Taiwan and who currently experiences repeated episodes of opportunistic infections have an HIV-1 blood tes t. The receipt of a blood transfusion between 1984 and 1987 should be listed by the Department of Health as an indication for HIV-1 screenin g.