Croatian blood transfusion service in prevention of HIV spread during the war.
Beside the war, an unfavorable epidemiological situation and a large number of foreign peace troops that entered the country without having been previously tested for infectious diseases, the number of AIDS cases in our country remained relatively low. The transfusion service played a considerable part in the prevention of HIV infection spread. Although the blood transfusion service was faced with higher demands for blood and blood products, throughout the period of the war not a single blood unit was imported and no single unit of blood components was transfused without having been previously tested for the presence of viral disease markers. Despite enormous economic difficulties, three new diagnostic tests were then introduced in our transfusion practice as a regular procedure: anti-HCV in 1993, anti-HIV 2 in 1994 and anti-HIV 1/0 in 1995.
Vuk
T
T
Croatian Institute of Transfusion Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Dubrava University Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia.
Putarek
K
K
Rojnić
N
N
Margan
I G
IG
Balija
M
M
Grgicević
D
D
D015492:AIDS Serodiagnosis; D001782:Blood Donors; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D017523:Croatia; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D065227:Transfusion Reaction; D014857:Warfare