Donation of substances of human origin (SoHO) is essential for the treatment of many patients and ranges from the donation of whole organs to the donation of tissue or cell products, including also gamete donation. In order to ensure the safety of recipients of SoHOs there are multiple steps taken in the donation pathway of all such substances to ensure the quality and safety of the donation. However, despite this, there is always a residual risk associated with SoHOs. The recent Infected Blood Inquiry (IBI) report has described in detail the background to the inadvertent transmission of HIV and hepatitis C to many patients in the past and has provided a number of recommendations. While the IBI focused on blood donation and the risk of blood borne virus transmission, the underlying principles are pertinent to all SoHOs, including gamete donation, and to all risks associated with SoHOs not just the risk of blood borne virus transmission.
Keywords: Blood products; blood transfusion; gamete donation.