Prevalence, incidence and residual risk of transfusion-transmitted HBV infection before and after the implementation of HBV-NAT in northern Brazil

Background Nucleic acid testing (NAT) for virus detection during blood screening has helped to prevent transfusion-transmitted infections worldwide. In northern Brazil, NAT was implemented in 2012 for HIV and HCV and more recently, in January 2015, the screening for HBV was included and currently used concomitant with serological tests (HBsAg and anti-HBc). This study aims to evaluate the prevalence and the incidence of HBV infection among voluntary blood donors at ten regional blood centers of HEMOPA Foundation in Para state and to compare the residual risk of transfusion-transmitted HBV infection before and after the Brazilian HBV-NAT implementation.