Evaluation of hepatitis C virus nucleic acid testing and HIV nucleic acid testing for blood donors

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the HCV NAT test and HIV NAT test in the recognition of the presence of RNA of HCV and HIV in blood samples from blood donors. Materials and Methods: We collected 2124 specimens of blood from male volunteer blood donors with their age group of 18-60 years who were visiting the blood bank of King Khalid Hospital, Al-Majmaah, Saudi Arabia, from January 2021 to May 2022. The samples from each donor were screened for anti-HCV and HIV Ab-Ag by commercial immunoassays and for qualitative assessments of RNA of HIV-1, HIV-2, and HCV in plasma specimens from each donor of blood by NAT testing. Results: Of the 2124 blood donors studied, 10 (0.47%) were positive for anti-HCV. HCV-NAT testing was non-reactive in all Anti-HCV -positive subjects 100% (10/10), and 1/2114 (0,05%) for Anti-HCV- negative donors was reactive and 2113 (99.95%) were non-reactive. HIV-NAT testing was nonreactive in 100% (2124/2124) of HIV Ab-Ag-negative subjects. Conclusions: The effectiveness of introducing the NAT test was attempted to be evaluated as the implementation of NAT technology has to be thoroughly evaluated for the actual yield in blood safety achieved must be assessed.