HCV screening in blood donations using RT-PCR in mini-pool: the experience in Spain after routine use for 2 years.

Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of implementing a commercial HCV RNA RT-PCR screening method and provide data on the prevalence and incidence rates of hepatitis C in Spain.

Study Design And Methods: Five transfusion centers participated in the study, covering 34.1 percent of the country's total number of donations.

Multicenter evaluation of a new automated fourth-generation human immunodeficiency virus screening assay with a sensitive antigen detection module and high specificity.

Fourth-generation assays for the simultaneous detection of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antigen and antibody that were available on the international market until now have antigen detection modules with relatively poor sensitivity and produce a higher rate of false-positive results than third-generation enzyme immunoassays (EIAs). The new Cobas Core HIV Combi EIA with an improved sensitivity for HIV p24 antigen was compared to alternative fourth- and third-generation assays, the p24 antigen test, and HIV type 1 (HIV-1) RNA reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR). A total of 94 seroconversion panels (n = 709 sera), samples from the acute phase of infection after seroconversion (n = 32), anti-HIV-1-positive specimens (n = 730) from patients in different stages of the disease, 462 subtyped samples from different geographical locations, anti-HIV-2-positive sera (n = 302), dilutions of cell culture supernatants (n = 62) from cells infected with different HIV-1 subtypes, selected performance panels from Boston Biomedica Inc.