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^(bal) (ATTN: National, Science editors)<

^Study Finds 2 Cases of AIDS From Infected Blood Donors (Baltimore)<

^By Mary Knudson=

^ 1991, The Baltimore Sun=

BALTIMORE _ Although the risk of getting AIDS from blood transfusions has

diminished, a major study of heart surgery patients has found that two were

infected with the AIDS virus by blood transfusions from donors who slipped

through screening tests since 1985.

The study of 11,535 patients at three hospitals traced the infected blood to

two donors who both tested negative for the AIDS virus at the time of donation,

but later tested positive, said Dr. Kenrad E. Nelson, an epidemiologist at the

Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

The reason blood banks can't completely eliminate risk of AIDS spread

through blood transfusion is a two- to six-month ``window'' between the time a

person is infected with the virus and the time a blood test will detect

antibodies to the virus, Nelson said. He gave a report on the study conducted

at Hopkins and at hospitals in Houston and Chicago to the American Association

of Blood Banks during its annual meeting in Baltimore this week.

The risk of getting AIDS through transfused blood or blood products is about

1 in 60,000, Nelson said. But a Gallup poll released Wednesday shows that

public perception of the risk is much greater than the reality.

Slightly more than half of the American public _ 52 percent _ believes it is

``likely'' they could get the AIDS virus from a blood transfusion, according to

a nationwide random telephone poll of 1,000 adults made in July and August.

Asked what their greatest concern would be if they had to have an operation,

almost as many people (26 percent) answered their greatest fear would be the

risk of getting AIDS from a blood transfusion as said their greatest fear would

be complications due to errors by the surgical team (29 percent.)

Getting AIDS was a greater concern than failure of the surgery to solve the

problem or complications that could occur from anesthesia.

For the third consecutive year, AIDS topped the list of diseases respondents

saw as the most serious health problems facing the United States: 27 percent

said AIDS, 20 percent cancer and 10 percent heart disease.

^Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service=