NIBD to screen every blood donor for five major diseases

The National Institute of Blood Diseases (NIBD) has become the first institution of Pakistan that conducts nucleic acid testing (NAT) of every blood donor to screen it for five major diseases – HIV, hepatitis B and C, malaria and syphilis – before transfusing it to patients, especially children suffering from blood disorders.

NAT is the latest molecular blood screening technique that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States a while ago for screening donors’ whole blood and blood components intended for use in transfusion.

Experts say this test system can simultaneously detect the presence of HIV and HCV in blood using a semi-automated system and is expected to further ensure the safety of whole blood and blood components – including fresh plasma, red cells and platelets – by allowing earlier detection of HIV and HCV infections in donors. “A couple of blood banks, including an institute of the armed forces, are using this technique for screening donors’ blood, but they combine the blood of six donors and screen it for the five major diseases,” NIBD CEO and bone marrow transplant surgeon Dr Tahir Sultan Shamsi told The News.

“At NIBD we have started to use the technique for every bag of blood to ensure transfusion of safe blood to every patient, especially children.”

Transfusion of unsafe blood to patients, especially children, is the major cause of HIV and hepatitis B and C in Pakistan. A recent study found that at least 30 per cent of the patients in Sindh who received blood once in their lifetime, were infected with either HIV or hepatitis B or C.

Most of the blood banks at public and private hospitals are using decades-old techniques for screening blood and they are cost-effective as well, but often these techniques fail to detect viral diseases and patients are infected with deadly viruses, which prove to be fatal or result in serious complications for the patients suffering from blood or other diseases.

Dr Shamsi said that although NAT was a costly technique, the NIBD had decided to apply it for screening donors’ blood to ensure that children received safe blood and got cured, instead of contracting additional and life-threatening diseases.

Thousands of children, especially those suffering from congenital blood disorders such as thalassaemia, aplastic anaemia, haemophilia and some other blood cancers, require blood transfusions to live on, but in many cases these children also become infected with deadly viral diseases due to unscreened or poorly screened blood.

“It is injustice to the children suffering from blood disorders or curable diseases that instead of getting cured of their health condition, they acquire more diseases due to carelessness of the blood bank staff,” said Dr Shamsi.

Unfortunately, dozens of blood banks are still providing unsafe blood to disadvantaged and deserving patients due to the apathy of the Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority.