[Residual risk of human immunodeficiency virus infection in blood banks. Impact of screening with nucleic acid tests].
In most developed countries of the world, the risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission by transfusion of blood and blood products is extraordinarily small. This level of blood safety has been accomplished by successive refinement in donor screening and testing procedures for the detection and inactivation of different infectious agents in blood and blood products. In USA, the recent introduction of nucleic acid techniques (NAT) in blood banks for the detection of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) has meant a great advance in decreasing the residual risk of HIV/HCV transmission by blood transfusion. In general, after analyzing the first four-years of NATs experience in US blood banks, the introduction of NATs in European blood centers could be considered, since this technique has shown improved output to detect donations from individuals in the very early stages of infection before detectable serologic response has been developed.
Machuca
Ana
A
Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, CBER/FDA, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. machuca@cber.fda.gov
Hewlett
Indira
I
D000465:Algorithms; D001771:Blood Banks / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D006678:HIV / Q000235:genetics*; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000193:education
D015483:HIV Antibodies; D012367:RNA, Viral