Automated nucleic acid amplification testing in blood banks: An additional layer of blood safety.

CONTEXT

A total of 30 million blood components are transfused each year in India. Blood safety thus becomes a top priority, especially with a population of around 1.23 billion and a high prevalence rate of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) in general population. Nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) in blood donor screening has been implemented in many developed countries to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted viral infections (TTIs). NAT takes care of the dynamics of window period of viruses and offers the safest blood pack for donation.

AIMS

The aim of this study is to show the value of NAT in blood screening.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

Dhanavantari Blood Bank, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Over a period of 1 year from January 2012 to December 2012, a total number of 15,000 blood donor samples were subjected to tests for HIV, HBV, and HCV by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method and 8000 ELISA nonreactive samples were subjected for NAT using multiplex polymerase chain reaction technology.

RESULTS

Of the 15,000 donors tested, 525 were seroreactive. In 8000 ELISA negative blood samples subjected to NAT, 4 donor samples were reactive for HBV. The NAT yield was 1 in 2000.

CONCLUSIONS

NAT could detect HIV, HBV, and HCV cases in blood donor samples those were undetected by serological tests. NAT could interdict 2500 infectious donations among our approximate 5 million annual blood donations.