Hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) in blood donors in the United States: implications for surrogate testing programs.

In order to evaluate the operational implications of excluding donated blood with antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc), the American Red Cross tested 107,473 voluntary blood donations for anti-HBc in 72 test sites during a 1-week period. The system-wide prevalence of anti-HBc was 2.60 percent, with a range of 0.55 to 6.38 percent, depending on geographic region. For the American Red Cross, which collects approximately one-half of the blood supply in the United States, excluding donated blood with anti-HBc would result in a loss of approximately 159,500 units during the first year.