Nucleic acid testing (NAT) is a molecular technique for screening blood donations to reduce the risk of transfusion transmitted infections (TTIs) in the recipients, thus providing an additional layer of blood safety. It was introduced in the developed countries in the late 1990s and early 2000s and presently around 33 countries in the world have implemented NAT for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and around 27 countries for hepatitis B virus (HBV).[1] NAT technique is highly sensitive and specific for viral nucleic acids. It is based on amplification of targeted regions of viral ribonucleic acid or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and detects them earlier than the other screening methods thus, narrowing the window period of HIV, HBV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections.

Nucleic acid testing (NAT) is a molecular technique for screening blood donations to reduce the risk of transfusion transmitted infections (TTIs) in the recipients, thus providing an additional layer of blood safety. It was introduced in the developed countries in the late 1990s and early 2000s and presently around 33 countries in the world have implemented NAT for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and around 27 countries for hepatitis B virus (HBV).[1] NAT technique is highly sensitive and specific for viral nucleic acids. It is based on amplification of targeted regions of viral ribonucleic acid or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and detects them earlier than the other screening methods thus, narrowing the window period of HIV, HBV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections.