"Flu Shots May Give False Blood Reading"

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1992. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

"Flu Shots May Give False Blood Reading"

USA Today (08/26/92), P. 1D
Painter, Kim

Abstract: People who receive flu shots may test positive for viruses they don't actually have when they donate blood. For about 1.7 percent of recent flu vaccine recipients, blood banks find false-positive tests for HIV, hepatitis C, and human T cell lymphotrophic virus, type 1. But follow-up tests indicate the donors aren't truly infected. Dr. William R. MacKenzie, a Centers for Disease Control researcher, said, "Influenza vaccine poses no risk for infection with these viruses." Health experts first found the link between the viruses and the vaccines in 1991. The vaccine might incite antibodies that, on tests, resemble antibodies to the viruses, they said. The findings raised questions about whether individuals who had recent flu vaccines should refrain from donating blood--not because they pose a true risk, but because their blood would be discarded if it tested positive. MacKenzie and colleagues, who monitored 17,941 donors, said vaccine recipients shouldn't be prohibited from donating blood because false-positives are relatively rare, showing up in 0.6 to 1.7 percent of vaccinated people. In addition, they said, the association with the vaccine is so certain that all donors with multiple false-positive results after a flu vaccine should be permitted to donate when they subsequently test negative.

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