Zika virus RNA detection in blood donors in São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT Introduction: The Zika Virus (ZIKV) is a single-stranded RNA genome virus, belonging to the family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus. Outbreaks around the world have demonstrated that the presence of asymptomatic viremic blood donors provides an increase in the risk of transfusion transmission (TT) and nucleic acid test (NAT) screening has been proposed to ensure the blood safety. This study implemented an “in-house” method to detect ZIKV RNA in blood sample donations. Methods: Primary plasma tubes are submitted to nucleic acid extraction on an automated platform. After extraction,...

Texto completo