Impact
ID-NAT Tested Blood for Better Blood Transfusion Nucleic acid testing (NAT) detects the viral nucleic acid present in the blood and differs from immunoassays as it detects the genetic material of the pathogens, not antigens or antibodies
Sumit Bagaria, Managing Director, Hemogenomics
Blood
transfusion
is
a
lifesaving
donation and then the blood unit
the
undergoes mandatory screening, there
lifeline of critical surgical processes.
still are chances that infections can
But blood can also be an easy route
escape detection and result in TTIs.
for microbes to enter a patient’s body
Asymptomatic donors that are infected
and result in deadly infections. It is the
but do not show any sign of infection
utmost responsibility of blood bankers
pose a major threat to the blood supply.
or transfusion medicine practitioners
Such donors’ infected blood units should
that their patients do not acquire life-
be caught beforehand during screening
threatening infections from blood. To
but sometimes they escape detection.
make sure that patients receive safe
The reason is Window Period donations.
blood, which is free from any microbial
What is the window period?
procedure
and
is
considered
infection, blood screening has been mandated the world over.
A window period of a screening or a diagnostic assay is defined as the
In India, every unit of blood donated
time between infection and the time
is strictly screened for HIV, HBV, HCV,
required for the assay to reliably detect
syphilis and malaria. Blood screening
the infection. The window period for
is a critical process which is taken very
serology-based assays is usually 15
seriously in every blood bank to avoid
days, 60 days and 35-40 days for
transfusion-transmitted infections (TTI).
HIV, HCV and HBV respectively. An
Though every blood donor undergoes
asymptomatic donor when donating
a strict questionnaire before blood
blood
during
the
above-mentioned
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