Low perception of sexual behaviours at risk for human immunodeficiency virus infection among blood donors who call the AIDS/STI Help Line in Italy.

Background: In Italy, the circulation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has expanded to include population groups that do not perceive themselves to be "at risk" of HIV infection and who do not even consider undergoing HIV testing. The aim of this study was to describe the socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics, and perceived risk of HIV infection in a sample of blood donors who reported never having been tested for HIV.

Materials And Methods: A questionnaire was administered to a sample of donors who called the Italian National AIDS/STI Help Line and reported never having been tested for HIV.

Results: The study sample consisted of 164 blood donors: 29.3% had given blood in the preceding 2 years. With regards to at-risk behaviours, 39.6% of the donors interviewed were heterosexuals who had sexual contacts with multiple partners, and 5.5% were men who had sex with multiple male partners. Sexual contacts with female sex workers were reported by 11.6% of first-time donors and 25.7% of repeat donors. Of the 164 donors interviewed, 125 (76.2%) said that the main reason that they had never been tested for HIV was that they did not consider themselves at risk. Among these, 56 (44.8%) reported that they would have sexual contacts with a sex worker, 52 (41.6%) reported that they would have sexual contacts with someone having more than one sexual partner, and 36 (28.8%) reported that they would have sexual contacts without using a condom.

Discussion: All the donors interviewed reported that they had never been tested for HIV despite the fact that they had been certainly been tested upon blood donation. These results show that some sexual behaviours may not be perceived as behaviours at risk for acquiring HIV infection. These findings suggest that not all blood donors are knowledgeable about HIV risk behaviours and that an explicit pre-donation questionnaire and effective counselling continue to be important for the selection of candidate donors.