Two blood banks get latest tech to screen blood

MUMBAI: Getting safe blood just got a bit more easier. Two leading blood banks in the city have acquired the latest machinery to screen donor blood samples and reject samples contaminated with deadly viruses such as HIV and Hepatitis B and C.
While blood samples at Byculla's Metropolitan Blood Bank will be subjected to the fourth-generation ELISA test, Hinduja Hospital blood bank in Mahim recently introduced the Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) technology for the same.
What gives these tests an edge is that they can detect the deadly HIV and Hepatitis viruses within a few weeks of exposure. "The new age Elisa kit can locate the HIV virus within 12 days after exposure, while NAT can do it in nine days. The NAT can also detect the highly infective liver failure-causing viruses-Hepatitis B and C-within a window period of 23 days and seven days respectively,'' a senior government official said.
According to a senior government official, "The earlier versions of the Elisa tests needed three to four months window period to detect the virus,'' he added.
While NAT was first launched at the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital in New Delhi, Hinduja Hospital is the first city hospital to acquire the technology.
"NAT facilitates quicker detection of the virus because it directly tests the virus genome as opposed to the ELISA which tests the antibodies and antigens produced by the body after the blood gets infected,'' said Dr Anand Deshpande, who heads the transfusion medicine and haematology department at Hinduja Hospital.
According to Dr Deshpande, the NAT machine can test 91 blood samples in a single run.
The total time to carry out the test takes six hours. Hinduja Hospital, which receives 25 units of blood through donors per day on an average, will test blood samples sent to them by other blood banks and hospitals as well.