Frequency of HBV DNA detection in US blood donors testing positive for the presence of anti‐HBc: implications for transfusion transmission and donor screening

Abstract

Anti-HBc screening detects HBsAg EIA-negative, HBV-infected donors at a rate comparable to the estimated residual risk for HBV window-period infections. The low viral load in the HBV DNA-positive samples suggests that minipool NAT will not detect most potentially infectious units from anti-HBc-positive donors.