The Risk of HIV in Blood Donation As HIV began to spread throughout Canada and the US, the Canadian

Red Cross Society began to monitor the blood of donors and handing out pamphlets to donors that outlined the risk of contamination. This happened in 1983, but two years later, thousands of people in Canada has contracted HIV from tainted blood. In 1988, the Red Cross society would not accept blood from men who had sex with other men. As well, all donated blood was checked for HIV and other infectious diseases, like hepatitis B and C. In 2001, the Canadian Blood Services began to use nucleic acid testing which detects the low levels of a viruss genetic material that are there at the time of infection and before the body begins to fight the virus. This allows Canadian Blood Services to detect infections earlier. I think this article is important because it shows the precautions we should take to prevent ourselves from contracting HIV. For example, one basic way contamination can happen is male and male sex, which is why the Canadian Red Cross Society no longer takes blood from men who have sex with men. This article highlights the dangers of having unprotected sex an easy way to contract HIV and the risks of having sex with strangers. Author of article: Megan Oglivie Date of Article: January 26th, 2011 Newspaper: Toronto Star