Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT): A New Technology

The American Red Cross continues its firm commitment to finding new technologies that help make the blood supply safer than ever before. Since 1999, the Red Cross has been a leader in implementing nucleic acid testing, which allows detection of some blood-borne diseases faster and more accurately than previous blood screening tests.

The Red Cross launched nucleic acid testing for two infectious disease agents, HIV-1 and HCV, under an investigational new drug protocol in March 1999. Today, the Red Cross uses NAT at its five state-of-the-art NAT laboratories to test every allogeneic blood donation.

NAT can detect the genetic material of transfusion-transmitted viruses without waiting for the body to form antibodies, therefore offering an important time advantage over previous techniques.

NAT works like this: A small sample of the donor's blood is pooled with 15 other blood donation samples. The pooled samples are prepared in a way so as to separate any genetic material associated with the HIV-1 or HCV. The sample is further processed so that multiple copies are made of any viral material present. A laboratory test can then be used to detect this evidence of viral infection.

The top priority of the American Red Cross is the safety and availability of the blood supply. The Red Cross continues to build on the layers of safety currently in place to help protect patients who need blood and blood products.