9 Investigates: Possible false HIV test by OneBlood

An Apopka man, who has donated more than 30 gallons of blood, was banned from giving to OneBlood indefinitely, after what he says was a false positive HIV test.

Re-tests from his own doctor came back negative, as well as a re-test from OneBlood, but it took 9 Investigates getting involved for the issue to be addressed by the blood bank.

Ken DiSalvatore has given hundreds of donations of his rare, AB+ blood.

“I gave so many times, that scar tissue has built up, they can’t find my vein anymore,” DiSalvatore said about his left arm. “Now I always give with my right.”

DiSalvatore has also organized dozens of blood drives at churches, bringing in countless more pints from other donors.

“It’s the one thing I feel I can do for my community,” DiSalvatore said.

DiSalvatore waited for lines to die down at donation centers following the Pulse tragedy, and was able to donate platelets on July 1, 2016, and July 22, 2016.

However, when he stopped by to donate again in September, he was turned away.

“That’s when they told me I tested positive for HIV and Hepatitis C.

And I just was in shock, and I said there's no possible way,” DiSalvatore said.

We reviewed a letter that shows during testing of his July donations, OneBlood detected the virus that causes AIDS.

The letter stated his condition would be reported to the Orange County Health Department.

DiSalvatore has been married for 38 years, during which time he’s made 296 donations without any bad tests.

“They said, no, there's no way we've mixed you up with anybody else, but there was a possibility there was a false positive,” DiSalvatore said.

OneBlood’s lab, ‘Creative Testing Solutions’ in St. Petersburg, runs 24-7, and processes at least 4,000 blood donations every day.

Each blood sample goes through around a dozen tests, for HIV, hepatitis B and C, West Nile virus, syphilis and CMV.

Even though DiSalvatore showed us two tests from his own doctor confirming he does not have HIV, he still wasn’t reinstated to donate.

“I'd like to hit 34 gallons, 45, 50. I've still got life in me,” DiSalvatore said.

After 9 Investigates got involved, OneBlood’s Quality Assurance Director told DiSalvatore he would personally deliver the negative test results to the doctor who has to sign off on any re-entries to the system.

He’s hoping to be fully reinstated by the first of April.

OneBlood admits this has happened before due to the rigorous testing done on each sample.

OneBlood officials also admit that contamination is a very remote possibility, but the testing lab has strict protocols to follow and technicians get warning messages stopping their process if anything is mislabeled along the way.

Cox Media Group