HBs Antibody and deferral of donors

[Liz]

Is there a value for HBs Ab below which the donor should be deferred?

Thanks

Liz

[David Saikin]

HBsAb is not a test performed on donors.

[Liz]

Correct. I perform it so as to have an initial idea if the donor who is HBcAb positive and HBsAg negative, is a potential carrier or immune due to previous infection.

What are your thoughts?

Thank you

[geekay]

Hi there,

Usually, the Anti HBs testing is carried on routine, in Asian countries where the incidence of Anti HBc positivity is more . Here to minimise the number of discarded units we do Anti HBs . if the unit is high in titre for anti HBS (usually more than 50 units ) we use it . otherwise, we discard it.

But in this era of NAT, I think the importance of anti HBc or Anti HBs as the part of the testing for Blood Donors has come down ?

with regards,

engeekay2003