Prevention of West Nile virus transmission by blood transfusion: a comparison of nucleic acid test screening assays

West Nile virus and blood product safety in Germany

“…With a WNV-RNA concentration range described from <50 copies/ml up to 10 5 copies/ml [Busch et al, 2005b], the short viremia is at a moderate level when compared to the respective figures for other blood-borne viral infections like HCV (3 months, 10 5 -10 8 IU/ml) or HIV (4 weeks, 10 2 -10 6 IU/ml) [Lelie et al, 2002]. WNV-RNA incidence in Germany was analyzed in minipools comprised of eight blood donations collected during Summer 2005 and using the highly sensitive Chiron Procleix WNV NAT [Gallian et al, 2005]. Since different WNV strains were described as circulating in Central Europe [Bakonyi et al, 2005[Bakonyi et al, , 2006, we investigated whether the Procleix assay detects all available WNV strains.…”

No evidence of West Nile virus infection in Dutch blood donors

“…Fewer than 1% of the infected individuals develop acute neurological disease, which can lead to coma, stupor, paralysis and death [2]. WNV is associated with sporadic cases and outbreaks in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe [3–8].…”

Fatal West Nile Virus Infection After Probable Transfusion-Associated Transmission—Colorado, 2012

“…The Cobas TaqScreen West Nile Virus Test and Procleix WNV NAT assays typically detect lower levels of WNV RNA than conventional RT‐PCR. However, at very low levels of viremia, NAT assays performed on minipools or individual units can exhibit test‐to‐test variability and might require replicate testing to detect viral RNA . In addition, the nonreactive Procleix NAT might reflect lower WNV RNA concentration in the sample because of viral degradation during prolonged storage at 39.2°F (4.0°C).…”