Excerpt from Lauren B. Leveton, Harold C. Sox, Jr., and Michael A. Stoto (eds), HIV and the Blood Supply An Analysis of Crisis Decisionmaking (Committee to Study HIV Transmission Through Blood and Blood Products, Institute of Medicine 1995). Provides history of contaminated blood in the US, including awareness of hepatitis virus from 1943, methods of viral inactivation of AHF concentrate, FDA license approvals for heat-treated factor VIII, donor screening and product recalls.