The Institut de Veille Sanitaire (InVS) published a study showing that men who have sex with men (MSM) are at the origin of half of the risk of transmission of the disease. HIV by transfusion.
Between 2008 and 2010, twenty-eight transmissions (HIV seroconversions) occurred in regular donors representing a risk of 1 in 2,900,000 donations. Fourteen seroconversions (50%) involved MSM.
Giving MSM permission to donate blood would result in an overall risk of HIV transmission of 1 in 3,500,000 (close to the current risk) to 1 in 700,000 donations (four times higher than the current risk) according to the InVS.
Faced with the shortage of donors, in agreement with the Government, Marisol Touraine, Minister of Health, announced at the end of June that this exclusion measure would be removed in the coming months.
The solution envisaged by the authorities concerned would be to authorize only MSM who have had only one partner in the last 12 months, to donate blood. According to the InVS study, the risk of contamination linked to this new measure would be at best equivalent to what is currently observed, at worst, it would multiply it by 4.
In their conclusions, the researchers therefore recommend that the most “acceptable” solution would be, as in Great Britain, to allow only MSM who have abstained for 12 months to donate blood.
