To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the extent of the risk posed by women who give blood and engage in anal intercourse without then notifying the National Blood Service; and whether heterosexual women who engage in anal intercourse are considered high-risk blood donors. (80807)

The United Kingdom blood services together with the Health Protection Agency continually monitor donors who test positive for markers of infection with HIV, Hepatitis B and C, Syphilis and Human T-cell lymphotropic virus. Part of this process involves interviewing donors to determine the risk factors underlying their infection. This process has not suggested that heterosexual anal intercourse is a major risk factor for transmitting the infections tested for by the UK blood services.

Other limited data available in the published literature do not suggest that within the UK, heterosexual anal intercourse, when compared to vaginal intercourse, is a major risk factor for the transmission of HIV or other transfusion transmissible infections.