Fear of AIDS Linked to Drop in Blood Donors

Facing a possible shortage of donated blood because of the AIDS crisis, the regional American Red Cross is taking the unusual step of placing public notices in area newspapers to convey the message that it is safe both to give and receive blood this holiday season.

“The panic over AIDS has unnecessarily frightened many potential donors, and we want to correct the situation before the blood supplies become critically low,” said Norman Kear, regional head of Red Cross blood services for Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Donations are currently 9,000 units below projections, and if the trend continues the blood banks could face a 5% drop overall for fiscal year 1985-86.

Giving blood is an extremely safe procedure, Kear stressed. But recent national polls have indicated that 25% of the public mistakenly believes AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, can be contracted through giving blood.

Means of Transmissions

AIDS is known to be transmitted through blood and semen by way of sexual acts and contaminated needles, medical experts say. However, although AIDS can be spread among intravenous drug users by contaminated hypodermic needles, there is no such danger at American Red Cross blood banks, Kear said, because “we use only new sterilized needles which are used only once and thrown away.”

Contracting AIDS from donated blood is also highly unlikely today, Kear said, because all blood donations are now tested for the presence of AIDS antibodies. If there are antibodies present, the blood is destroyed and the donor is notified so that medical advice can be obtained.

Heightened Fears

The local Red Cross region, which includes Orange and Los Angeles counties, is the largest blood bank operation in the national Red Cross network, Kear said. Last year, nearly 405,000 units of blood (a unit equals about a pint) were donated locally, the most in the program’s history.

While local blood donations in the four years since the AIDS epidemic began have increased steadily from 385,000 units in 1980-81, the trend is threatened this year, Kear said.

The death of AIDS-stricken actor Rock Hudson in August and the controversy across the nation over allowing children with AIDS to attend schools has heightened fears about AIDS, he said.

As a result, the number of new donors has dropped for the first time in the program’s history, Kear said, and the number of repeat donors also has declined.

When blood supplies are below normal, additional supplies are usually obtained from other regions. However, those regions are also facing potential shortages because of AIDS-related fear, Kear said.