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HTLV Testing in Blood Transfusion
Author(s) -
Couroucé AM.,
Pillonel J.,
Lemaire JM.,
Saura C.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
vox sanguinis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.68
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1423-0410
pISSN - 0042-9007
DOI - 10.1111/j.1423-0410.1998.tb05416.x
Subject(s) - seroconversion , blood donations , medicine , blood transfusion , blood supply , virology , screening test , immunology , environmental health , antibody , family medicine , surgery
To improve the safety of the blood supply, HTLV screening of blood donations became mandatory in different countries. In Japan and in Europe, the majority of HTLV‐infected donors are HTLV‐I whereas in the USA more than half of them are HTLV‐II‐positive. The prevalence of HTLV‐infected donors is low in European Countries as is the rate of seroconversion. Consequently, to test donors only once would have a high efficiency. This procedure is already in use in certain countries. Furthermore, if the use of leucodepleted cell concentrates is generalized, the policies for HTLV screening will still be further modified.