JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
-
To provide physicians and other transfusion medicine professionals with a current consensus on infectious disease testing for blood transfusions. ⋯ The serum alanine aminotransferase test should be discontinued as a surrogate marker for blood donors likely to transmit posttransfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis infection since specific hepatitis C antibody testing has eliminated more than 85% of these cases. Antibody to hepatitis B core antigen testing should continue as it may prevent some cases of posttransfusion hepatitis B; it may also act as a surrogate marker for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in donors and may prevent a small number of cases of transfusion-transmitted HIV infection. Syphilis testing should continue until adequate data can determine its effect on the rarity of transfusion-transmitted syphilis. Vigilant public health surveillance is critical in responding to emerging infectious disease threats to the blood supply.