Blood and Plasma Screening

Various markers of infection appear at different times after infection. The first detectable target to appear is nucleic acid, followed a few days later by antigens and subsequently antibodies. Nucleic acid technology (NAT), which detects the presence of a virus even in very low concentrations, can detect infections earlier than immunoassays, which are used to identify antigens and antibodies. These scientific topics will explore blood and plasma screening and the methods to detect antibodies and DNA markers of disease in the blood and plasma supply.