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The South African National Blood Service (SANBS) on Tuesday said its products were among the safest in the world and were tested in line with international standards.
The comment follows an article by local newspaper The Star that HIV infection through blood transfusion were set to treble within a few years.
"Because existing tests cannot detect the virus in the blood of a donor in the window-period of infection, our research shows that zero to three people could become infected each year," SANBS inland region medical director, Dr Robert Crookes, told the UN news service PlusNews.
Crookes explained that out of about 900,000 transfusions conducted per anum, only five people had become infected over the last five years.
"A blood transfusion in a life and death situation takes precendence over the very rare chance of HIV infection," Crookes added.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions