Experiences in HCV-NAT screening prior to releasing cellular components by the German Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service of Baden-Württemberg.

In this report we present the accumulated data on nucleic acid testing (NAT) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA of blood donations by the Blood Transfusion Service of Baden-Württemberg in the period between March 1997 and March 1999. An extra barcoded blood sample was collected from each donor. Samples were tested by NAT in mini-pools of maximally 96 samples. First-time and repeat donors were tested separately. RT/HCV-PCR was performed with the COBAS HCV Amplicortrade mark, versions 1.0 and 2.0 from Roche Diagnostic Systems. Many modifications have been introduced to the original protocol since the implementation of NAT screening aiming at an increase in the sensitivity and specificity of the assay. NAT positive pools containing serologically positive samples were detected. Initially, reactive pools were identified that could not be confirmed by secondary pooling and single testing procedures. So far, no serologically negative but NAT positive sample has been found.