Question

What is the window phase of an infection? How is this concept important for testing for HIV infection in blood banks?

Answer 1

Window peroid of an infection:

The window period is important to epidemiology and safe sex strategies, and in blood and organdonation, because during this time, an infected person or animal cannot be detected as infected but may still be able to infect others..During the window period a person can be infected with HIV and be very infectious but still test HIV negative. The window period for a 4th generation antigen/antibody test is four weeks.

Concept important for testing for HIV infection in blood banks:

Antibody tests check for HIV antibodies in blood or fluids from the mouth. HIV antibodies are disease-fighting proteins that the body produces in response to HIV infection.Tests selected to screen donor blood and tissue must provide a high degree of confidence that HIV will be detected if present (that is, a high sensitivity is required).A combination of antibody, antigen and nucleic acid tests are used by blood banks in Western blot.