Blood Donation Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Blood Donation, including details on blood types, blood group, leukemia, red cross.

Estimation of delay in detecting hepatitis C virus antibodies in pools compared to individual testing on seroconversion panels.

Sarov B, Novack L, Galai N, Yaari A, Orgel M, Safi J, Yahalom V, Shinar E

Department of Epidemiology and Health Services Evaluation, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel. sbatia@bgu.ac.il

Testing for anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies in pools may reduce blood screening costs, making this approach affordable for developing countries, provided that the dilution of infected blood does not significantly increase the number of undetectable viral particles, especially in seroconverters. This study assessed the delay in detection of HCV antibodies in five HCV seroconversion panels, tested in pools of 6-48 samples, and estimated the risk of transfusion-transmitted HCV caused by pooling. The delay in detection of positive samples was 5-12 days for pools of all sizes, adding 7% to the risk of HCV transmission that occurs when blood donors' samples are tested individually.

Published 7 June 2007 in Clin Microbiol Infect, 13(7): 737-9.
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