They can detect the virus only if it has been in the blood for 2 weeks

Beware! The blood you just bought from the bank could be infected with the dreaded Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Blood banks in Rajasthan do not have the facilities to detect the presence of HIV that has just entered the donor’s blood. The banks can detect the virus only after it has been in the blood for more than two weeks.

Simply put, if a person infected with HIV less than two weeks back donates his blood, the banks will not be able to detect the virus. There is a likelihood of the blood being used for transfusion.

There are 78 blood banks and 63 collection centres in Rajasthan. Currently, two tests — Eliza and Western Blot— are conducted on blood samples for HIV screening. However, both these tests fail to detect the virus during its ‘window period’ — the three-week period it takes to appear in the blood.

“The Eliza test and western blot test do not detect HIV virus in the window period. But whenever we have a suspicious sample we test it again to be doubly sure about any infection. But there is no way we can detect HIV virus in window period by the currently available test in the blood banks.” Dr RND Purohit, director of Rajasthan Aids Control Society,  said.

The only way to detect the infection at the nascent stage is through the nucleic acid test (NAT). But none of the blood banks in the state, including the largest blood bank at Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital, use the NAT to detect the HIV infection regularly. NAT is considered costly by the authorities as it costs around Rs1,000 per sample.

“If required we can do NAT test in the SMS Medical College. But the blood banks cannot afford this machine as it costs around Rs2 crore,” says Dr Ashok Panagariya, principal and controller, SMS Medical College.

Dangerous!

Blood banks do not have the facilities to detect HIV that has just entered the donor’s blood.

Simply put, if a person infected with HIV less than two weeks back donates his blood, the banks will not be able to detect the virus.

Arvind Singh/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication