Public health then and now. Blood transfusions in the early years of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Autores: WH Schneider, Ernest Drucker
• Localización: American journal of public health, ISSN 0090-0036, Vol. 96, Nº. 6, 2006, págs. 984-994
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Blood transfusions transmit HIV more effectively than other means, yet there has been little examination of their role in the origins and early course of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. We review historical data in archives, government reports, and medical literature from African and European sources documenting the introduction, establishment, use, and growth of blood transfusions in sub-Saharan Africa. These data allow estimation of the geographic diffusion and growth of blood transfusions between 1940 and 1990. By 1955, 19 African colonies and countries reported transfusion programs-with national rates of 718 to 1372 per 100 000 by 1964, and urban rates similar to those in developed countries. We estimated 1 million transfusions per year in sub-Saharan Africa by 1970 and 2 million per year by the 1980s, indicating that transfusions were widely used throughout sub-Saharan Africa during the crucial period of 1950-1970, when all epidemic strains of HIV first emerged in this region.