NAT screening of viral infections in donors enhances blood safety

: The first experience in introducing the nucleic acid amplification technique (NAT) in an Indian blood service as compared with the established European practice is analyzed. Examination of 12,224 donor blood samples revealed 217 (1.78%) persons with markers of infections, including 8 (0.065%) persons only with markers of viral genome, without serological signs of infections. In India, enzyme immunoassay-negative NAT-positive donations were tens of times more detectable than in the developed countries, which is associated with the epidemiological features and the large (more than 50%) proportion of paid donors. By taking into account the fact that 4.6% of the preserved blood doses are annually rejected as defective in the Russian Federation, as evidenced by the screening of markers of infections, the introduction of NAT may be expected to reveal a large proportion of donors in the period of both a "seronegative window" and chronic carriers of hepatitis B virus with its blood content. Both intralaboratory monitoring using the certified standards and the laboratory work quality system as a whole are a necessary condition for introducing NAT into a blood service.