Better testing to secure safe blood supply

Improved HIV screening procedure will lower risk of infection from transfusion

As 5-year-old Maomao and her family struggle to live with the HIV she got via a blood transfusion, China's top HIV/AIDS specialist revealed that each year about 10 people suffer the same plight due to limitations of screening technology.

Wu Zunyou, head of the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, told China Daily that despite gradual updating to the far more sensitive RNA-based HIV screening at the nation's blood banks, the risk of contracting blood-borne diseases like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C still exist for blood transfusion recipients.