Korean J Blood Transfus.  2007 Apr;18(1):15-22.

Characteristics and Follow-up Results of the Window Period Blood Donors for Hepatitis C Virus

• Kang JW
• Lee JS
• Seo DH
• Huh K
• Wee JH
• Park Q

Abstract

BACKGROUND: To improve the safety of the blood supply in Korea, nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) for HCV and HIV-1 as a blood screening test has been used by the Korean Red Cross since February 1st, 2005. Until October 31st 2006, a total of 4,037,618 donor samples had been tested and 436 cases showed reactivity for HCV RNA. Only 10 of these cases showed serologically negative antibody results.
METHODS
We investigated the characteristics and the follow-up results of the ten donors who showed HCV RNA reactivity and serologically negative results.
RESULTS
All the ten donors were identified to be "window period" blood donors with confirmation of their seroconversion by follow-up testing. The average RNA titer of the donors was 9.21x106 IU/mL. Five donors showed high levels of ALT. One donor showed the reversed pattern on the test results for antibody and RNA.
CONCLUSION
By detecting five cases of HCV "window period" infection, NAT has increased the safety of the Korean blood supply. But it is considered that NAT can not be a substitute serological test and an adequate follow-up strategy is required for verification of the accurate seroconversion time.

Keyword

NAT; HCV; Follow-up test

MeSH Terms

Blood Donors*
Follow-Up Studies*
Hepacivirus*
Hepatitis C*
Hepatitis*
HIV-1
Humans
Korea
Mass Screening
Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques
Red Cross
RNA
Serologic Tests
Tissue Donors
RNA