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Volume 9, Number 8—August 2003
Perspective

Detecting Bioterror Attacks by Screening Blood Donors: A Best-Case Analysis

Edward H. Kaplan*Comments to Author , Christopher A. Patton†, William P. FitzGerald†, and Lawrence M. Wein‡
Author affiliations: *Yale School of Management and Yale Medical School, New Haven, Connecticut, USA; †American Red Cross, Arlington, Virginia, USA; ‡Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

Main Article

Table 2

False-alarm rates with test specificities as showna

          Specificity (s)           Annual false-alarm rate (FAR)
          0.9
           1,390,000
          0.99
           139,000
          0.999
           13,900
          0.9999           1,390

aIf one assumes 13.9 million annual blood donations tested, an average of one bioterror attack per year that infects 1,000 persons with a noncontagious agent, and a 1-month response and recovery period during which infected donations continue to arrive.

Main Article

Page created: December 22, 2010
Page updated: December 22, 2010
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The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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