INFECTIOUS-DISEASE MARKERS IN AUTOLOGOUS AND DIRECTED DONATIONS

Autologous collections are strongly advocated by the New South Wales R ed Cross Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) and have increased more than sevenfold since 1988. Directed donations, although not promoted, have also increased during this time. The prevalence of infectious disease markers (HIV, hepatitis C, hepatitis B and syphilis) in donations coll ected by the BTS from different donor groups including overall volunte er homologous, first-time volunteer homologous, autologous and directe d were evaluated over a 42-month period. Donations from first-time vol unteer homologous donors had the highest prevalence of hepatitis B and C. Autologous donations had a significantly higher prevalence of hepa titis B, hepatitis C and syphilis compared with overall volunteer homo logous donations. The percentage of directed donations testing positiv e for either hepatitis B or C was higher than overall volunteer homolo gous donations, but not statistically significant. Th's study demonstr ates that donations from first-time donors are the least safe, that th e crossover of autologous blood into the volunteer homologous pool dec reases the safety of that pool and suggests that directed donations ma y not be as safe as volunteer homologous donations and cannot be gener ally advocated at this time.