The donated blood distributed in South Africa is among the safest in the world.
This is thanks to cutting-edge technology that screens for the RNA and DNA of transfusion transmissible viruses, ensuring that the blood you receive is virus free.
Called nucleic acid testing, the SA National Blood Service (SANBS) has been using this highly sensitive test, which can detect active infections that traditional serology tests can miss and shortens the window period between infection and when the infection can be detected.
The test screens for HIV type 1 – the virus type responsible for most HIV infections – and hepatitis C and B, and has resulted in zero cases of HIV infection in blood transfusion patients over the past five years.
SANBS chief operations officer Ravi Reddy said it was a major victory for the service and the country.
“The blood distributed in South Africa is the safest in the world. Over the past five years we’ve prevented around 30 HIV infections through transfusion,” he said.
Prior to nucleic testing, Reddy said, on average two cases of blood transfusion patients contracting HIV from donated blood were reported annually.
The SANBS introduced the test in 2005 following a massive public outcry over the service’s decision to discard blood donated by black or coloured people.
Reddy said the black donor base had risen from just 5 percent in 2005 to 25 percent now.
He was speaking in Joburg at the opening of the first Laboratory Medicine Congress, a meeting of pathologists, medical technologists, cytologists, medical scientists and the SANBS. - The Star