Blood Screening Gives Information About Organs, Such As The Liver, Kidneys, And Heart
Blood Screening |
All
donated blood must be screened for infectious diseases that can be transmitted
during a blood transfusion. A Blood
Screening system is important to protect patients from such infections. The
United States has one of the highest rates of transfusion-transmissible
infections. However, many healthcare systems don't screen all donated blood for
these diseases.
Blood Screening
services use TTI markers, or tissue-to-infective agents, to identify donors.
These include HIV antigen-antibody, HBsAg, anti-HCV, and syphilis. These
markers reduce the time needed to screen for these infectious agents. They also
speed up the screening process by eliminating the need to test the donors for
reactive blood. The donor blood is quarantined or discarded if it contains the
TTIs.
The
Blood Screening program is offered
year-round at discounted prices for adults 18 and older. To take advantage of
these savings, residents must visit their local provider and present a valid
order. Blood screening tests can tell doctors a lot about a person's overall
health. Oftentimes, these tests can diagnose diseases before symptoms become
apparent, which means treatment can be more effective. This is important
because many medical conditions can be detected early and preventive actions
can be taken.
Although
the benefits of Blood Screening are
evident, there is still a lack of evidence that these tests improve the
survival rates for patients. Furthermore, there is no proof that they will
decrease the incidence of disease-specific mortality. A second issue concerns
the adequacy of the endpoints used to determine the effectiveness of a
blood-based test. In colon cancer screening, for example, the new tests have
only 10% sensitivity for advanced adenomas, which are considered precancerous.
Although
the results from a SEPT9 test have been encouraging, the results are inconsistent.
A panel of FDA regulators has recommended further trials to demonstrate the
effectiveness of this blood-based test. Its technology improves the detection
rate of colon cancer, with low specificity.
Blood Screening
is necessary for the safety of donors. Various agents are detected in blood,
which must be tested before a donor can donate. These include HIV-1 and HIV-2,
as well as HTLV-2. If a donor's blood contains a positive test result, it
cannot be used for transfusion. Further testing is also necessary to confirm
whether the patient is truly infected or if a non-specific reaction caused the
infection.
WHO
recommends screening for infections in blood donations, including HIV,
hepatitis B, and syphilis. All of these screening tests should be performed
according to quality standards within an effective national Blood Screening program. However, the
practice of pre-donation screening of blood donors is limited. It may be useful
in high-prevalence settings as an interim measure while a stable donor pool can
be established.
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