Switch to Nucleic Acid Testing for safe blood transfusion

BHOPAL: Donated blood in blood banks is screened by ELISA tests to detect HIV infection, which is not fool-proof. Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) provides a highly sensitive detection of genetic material of virus and can accurately detect hepatitis B and hepatitis C apart from HIV virus.
Experts said prevalence of HIV in blood donors is 0.5%. General population prevalence of hepatitis B is 2% to 8% and hepatitis C in is about 2%.
Risk of any of these infections is multiplied three-four times as a single unit of blood is broken into three or four components and the component is transfused to patient depending on need, said Dr Manisha Shrivastava, associate professor, department of transfusion medicine, BMHRC.
Going by 15-month nationwide study, in which screened 5,063 blood samples were tested, concluded traditional ELISA method could miss out detection of infection of one unit for every 631 units.
As per blood bank policy all samples are screened for HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), hepatitis B virus (through test for HBsAg), HCV (hepatitis C virus), syphilis and malaria. Prevalence of HIV and HCV was nearly three times, while hepatitis B virus was nearly double in replacement donors, according to a study by Gandhi Medical College (GMC).