• Vytenis Kalibatas.
• Department of Health Management, Kaunas University of Medicine, Kaunas, Lithuania. v.kalibatas@kraujodonoryste.lt
• Medicina (Kaunas). 2008 Jan 1; 44 (10): 791-8.

SummaryThe aim of the study was to evaluate the results of nucleic acid testing for viruses in an individual donor test in National Blood Center; the objectives--to analyze the prevalence of infectious disease markers per 100 seronegative remunerated and non-remunerated, first-time and regular whole-blood donations and to assess the odds ratio in detecting the infectious disease markers among remunerated and non-remunerated donations.Materials And MethodsAll seronegative (for compulsory hepatitis B surface antigen, antibodies against hepatitis C, and antibodies against HIV-1/2 tests) whole-blood donations were tested by Procleix Ultrio (Tigris, Chiron) system at the National Blood Center in 2005-2007 in order to identify HIV-1, hepatitis C, and hepatitis B viruses.ResultsThere were 152229 seronegative whole-blood donations tested by nucleic acid test of viruses in individual donor tests (ID-NAT). In 152146 cases, no infectious disease marker was found, and in 83 cases (or 0.05% of all seronegative whole blood donations), infectious disease markers were determined and confirmed. The prevalences of hepatitis C virus (determined by HCV-NAT method) per 100 seronegative blood donations were as follows: 0.061 among first-time remunerated donations and 0.042 among regular remunerated donations. The prevalences of hepatitis B virus (determined by HBV-NAT method) per 100 seronegative blood donations were as follows: 0.111 among first-time remunerated donations, 0.062 among regular remunerated donations, 0.014 among first-time non-remunerated donations, and 0.005 among regular non-remunerated donations. The remunerated donations showed the higher odds ratios in determining the infectious disease marker by ID-NAT test, comparing with non-remunerated ones.Conclusions1. The prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses, determined by ID-NAT test, per 100 seronegative whole-blood donations is statistically significantly higher in remunerated donations. 2. The remunerated donations had the higher odds ratios in determining the infectious disease marker by ID-NAT test, comparing with non-remunerated ones. 3. In order to maximize the safety of blood and blood products, the continuity of promotion of non-remunerated whole-blood donations program should be ensured, and a compulsory blood donor testing for nucleic acids of viruses in an individual donor test should be introduced.

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