ACSH staffers were pleased to learn the FDA has approved a new HIV combination assay that allows earlier detection of HIV and AIDS. Current HIV tests have a “window period” of two to eight weeks during which time a newly-infected person can test negative for the disease. Abbot Laboratories’ new test cuts seven to 20 days from that window period.
The new test’s ability to more quickly detect HIV is “just one more reason the FDA should lift its ban on blood donations against men who have had sex with other men at any time since 1977,“ says ACSH's Jeff Stier.
ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross adds, “I think this would be an excuse to act rationally and lift the ban. Criteria for blood donation should be applied on an individual basis, not blanket risk factors.”