Testing algorithms for blood: what should we test?

Abstract

Ensuring the safety of blood and tissues used for donation has been a priority of government and the health system for decades, and it has been extremely successful. While there are a large number of organisms that may be transmitted by blood transfusion (Table 1), many of these are rare or non-existent within the Australian donor population and the major concerns are hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. These three are present within the Australian donor population, are readily transmitted by blood transfusion, and have the potential to cause serious, incurable illness in the recipient.