Abstract
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.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 737-739 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Clinical Microbiology and Infection |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2007 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study was funded by the US Agency for International Development, Middle East Regional Cooperation Program (US-AID MERC), and forms part of the PhD dissertation of L. Novack. The first and second authors contributed equally to the manuscript.
Keywords
- Antibodies
- Blood donors
- Detection
- Hepatitis C virus
- Pooled screening
- Seroconversion
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Microbiology (medical)
- Infectious Diseases
