Molecular Biology Confirmation and Analysis of Suspected Transfusion-Associated HIV Cases

Wang SF

2004 Vol.20 NO.12

Correspondence Author：

Abstract：

“Blood, a gift for life, thank you.” – is a slogan used to encourage people to donate their blood enthusiastically to help those in need. However, in recent years, some individuals were found to be using blood donation as an opportunistic way
to establish if they were HIV infected. If the donors’ blood is in the window period for HIV detection, it would be tragic for recipients to receive this blood, which might lead to transfusion infection. This year (2004), three suspected blood transfusion-associated HIV cases were registered in a research project to investigate the possibility of such transmission. Blood samples were collected from both donors and recipients of each case. Samples were examined using molecular biology techniques in our virology laboratory, the Division of Laboratory Research and Development, CDC, Taiwan. First, HIV nucleic acids were extracted from blood samples. Then, Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and Nest Polymerase Chain Reaction (Nest PCR) techniques were applied with specific primers targeting the envelope gene (env) and the polymerase gene (pol) in the HIV genome. Subsequently, amplification