[Application of molecular biology to blood transfusion safety: the nucleic acid testing].

Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) for HIV-1 and HCV has been introduced in France and became mandatory for all homologous blood donations since July 1st 2001 in addition to serology screening. Previously, a feasibility study led to the selection of 2 technologies : a TMA based assay (Chiron) uses the Procleix HIV-/HCV assay on pools of 8 samples and a PCR based assay from BioMérieux-Roche which is a combination of an RNA extraction system (NucliSens, BioMérieux) with a fully automated system for nucleic acid amplification and detection (Cobas Amplicor, Roche). This system uses the Cobas Ampliscreen HCV test v.

Blood donors infected with the hepatitis B virus but persistently lacking antibodies to the hepatitis B core antigen.

Background And Objectives: Antibodies to the core of hepatitis B virus (anti-HBc) are considered to be the best serologically reliable markers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Through a national epidemiological survey, two young and first-time blood donors, originating from HBV-endemic areas, were identified as HBV carriers with an absence of anti-HBc reactivity.

Materials And Methods: We followed up these two subjects in order to investigate the evolution of their HBV serological profiles.

A comparative evaluation of the sensitivity of five anti-hepatitis C virus immunoblot assays.

Background And Objectives: In order to compare sensitivity, five anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) immunoblot assays were tested (Deciscan plus, Inno-Lia III, Matrix, Murex Western blot and RIBA-3).

Materials And Methods: The test panel (50 samples for each assay) included 6 anti-HCV-negative samples and 44 samples from 36 HCV-infected subjects.

Results: There were minor differences in core reactivity among the assays.