A 24-year-old Florida man who contracted the HIV virus from a tainted blood transfusion has filed a lawsuit against an area blood bank as well as the hospital where he received the donation. The man is one of two unidentified patients who received tainted transfusions during surgery in mid-March. The plaintiff's attorney said the lawsuit would be filed against Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital and Florida Blood Services (FBS), both located in the Tampa Bay area.

According to FBS, which supplies 180,000 pints of blood a year to 30 Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco county hospitals, the transfusions originated from the same donor. Experts say the chance of acquiring HIV from a blood transfusion is around one in 2 million. The incident marks the second time in the past year, though, that a healthy patient has contracted HIV from a blood transfusion. A San Antonio, Texas man was infected in September.