As part of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS-II), researchers analyzed 341 HIV-positive blood donors (cases) in Brazil and compared them to 791 HIV-negative blood donors (controls) for risky behavior including sexual and nonsexual, test seeking behaviors, and general demographics. Although Brazil has expanded its program for voluntary counseling and testing centers (VCTs) for HIV over the past few decades, results suggest that many at-risk donors do not use VCTs. Based on donors with risky behaviors within the past 12 months, over 40% of HIV-positive donors and 37% of HIV-negative at-risk donors had not been tested for HIV outside of blood donation centers. Of those donors positive for HIV, 62% of male and 47% of females had not been tested for HIV. Public education programs need to reach out to individuals with risky behaviors to encourage free HIV testing at VCTs and other outpatient clinics in order to help keep the blood supply safe.
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