Donated blood safer than ever

The test, Individual Donation Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) are able to detect very low levels of infection that may be present in donated blood and detects the presence of the virus itself.

“Over the last three years, 1.5 million blood donations have been transfused to patients, yet not a single case of transmission of HIV, hepatitis B or C by blood transfusion has been detected,” says Dr Sam Gulube, medical director of SANBS.

Although NAT tests cut the transmission risk and reduces the window period during which the virus cannot be detected, it does not eliminate it entirely. South Africa is the first country in the world to have implemented individual NAT testing on such a large scale.

A Transfusion Transmissible Infection Lookback Programme is another measure SANBS introduced to monitor the safety of the blood supply. Should a blood donor test positive for any transfusion transmissible disease, SANBS will determine if the donor has given a previous donation.

“The doctor of the patient who received the previous donation, that tested negative, will be notified and asked to arrange to test the patient to be sure that the blood transfused was not in the window period. The likelihood of this happening is, however, remote,” Gulube says.

The fact that the patient who received the previous donation of a donor who has become positive is tested for HIV does not mean that the previous donation was positive.

“It is nevertheless considered good medical practice to discuss the situation with the patient and perform appropriate follow-up blood tests. It is unfortunate that some medical practitioners do not understand the concept of this programme nor do they understand that the infectious disease Lookback Programme is an important component to ensure that safe blood gets transfused to patients.”

Blood donors are between the ages of 16 and 65, weigh 50kg or more and most importantly, lead a sexually safe lifestyle.

Dr Sam Gulube
Medical Director
SANBS
011 761 9123
082 495 7899