Magnetic bead technology for viral RNA extraction from serum in blood bank screening

Nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) was recently recommended by Brazilian legislation and has been implemented at some blood banks in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, in an attempt to reduce blood-born transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus.ObjectiveManual magnetic particle-based extraction methods for HIV and HCV viral nucleic acids were evaluated in combination with detection by reverse transcriptase -polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) one-step.MethodsBlood donor samples were collected from January 2010 to September 2010, and minipools of them were submitted to testing. ELISA was used for the analysis of anti-HCV/HIV antibodies. Detection and amplification of viral RNA was performed using real-time PCR.ResultsOut of 20.808 samples screened, 53 samples (29 for HCV and 24 for HIV) were confirmed as positive by serological and NAT methods.ConclusionThe manual magnetic bead-based extraction in combination with real-time PCR detection can be used to routinely screen blood donation for viremic donors to further increase the safety of blood products.