Objectives To increase the safety of blood supply and to evaluate the feasibility of Nucleic Acid amplification test (NAT) of blood donations in blood bank. Methods Individual donor plasma samples serologically negative for HCV, HBV and HIV detected by ELISA were pooled according to the size of 20?50 ?l. HCV RNA and HBV DNA in pooled samples were detected by AcuGen AG 9600 AmpliSensor qualitative PCR methods. Individual donor plasma samples in positive pooled samples were further tested by PCR. Results One(0.01%)of 8805 donations was PCR for HCV RNA positive. Six (0.4%)of 1 441 donations were PCR for HBV DNA positive. The whole procedure took three days from pooling donor plasma samples to identifying the positive samples. Conclusion It is feasible to incorporate NAT into ELISA screening blood donations for HBV and HCV. NAT will further increase the safety of blood supply.

Objective To identify SEN virus and analyse the sequence of its partial gene in blood donors in China.Methods Two pair primers from ORF1 of SENV genome were designed and samples from blood donors were detected for SENV DNA by nested PCR.The isolates from blood donors were cloned and sequenced.Results 6 isolates were obtained in 329 sera from blood donors.The sequence analysis showed that there were about 52%～100% homology of deduced amino acid between SENV A～H genotypes and 6 isolates from blood donors. The Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that 6 SENV isolates from blood donors belong to SENVH genotype.Conclusion There exists SENVH genotype infection among blood donors in China. SENV may be transmitted through blood transfusion.