As the number of people suffering from diseases and volume of surgical procedures are rising, the need for blood donors and blood screening is growing as well. A number of chronic diseases result in excessive loss of blood, due to which blood needs to be transfused into the patient. While a family member is the ideal option for blood donation, certain circumstances may arise which compel doctors to go through blood banks for finding a match. In any case though, it is important that the donated blood is free of any kind of contamination or diseases which may compromise the health of the patient. 

Owing to this, the global blood screening market generated $2,402.3 million in 2019, and it is predicted to progress at an 8.1% CAGR during the forecast period (2020–2030). 

When it comes to blood transfusion, the safety of the blood and its components is of the utmost priority, and it is determined by blood screening processes. The purpose of testing the donated blood is ascertaining whether it should be utilized for manufacturing or clinical procedures or be discarded. The major objective of blood screening is detecting the markers of infections, for preventing the release of infected blood components and blood into a patient. 

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What Products Are Used for Blood Screening? 

Settings where blood is screened usually utilize an array of software, services, instruments, kits, and reagents. Kits and reagents are used at the initial stage of the blood screening procedure, and the surging preference for specific, fast, and reliable detection of transfusion-transmissible infections (TTI) is leading to the increasing demand for these products in different medical facilities. All of these products are used for making sure that diseases, including human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and other infections, hypercholesterolemia, and cancer, are not present in the donated blood. 

Technologies Used for Performing Blood Screening 

• Nucleic Acid Technology (NAT): The test amplifies the presence of nucleic acid in a virus by over a million times, thereby enabling the early detection of minute virus quantities in the blood. The NAT test is of two types, namely real-time polymerase chain reaction and transcription-medicated amplification. 
• Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA): This is a post-donation test used for detecting the presence of TTIs in the donated blood. The technology is further of different types, namely colorimetric immunoassay, chemiluminescent immunoassay, and fluorescent immunoassay. 
• Rapid Testing: These tests are designed for use in preliminary screening tests, and they are particularly important in nations where resources are limited. Rapid testing can be performed quickly and easily, in 10 minutes–2 hours, and little or no equipment is required for performing this blood screening test. 
• Western Blotting: This test separates the blood proteins, for detecting the presence of specific proteins (HIV antibodies), which indicate an HIV infection. This test is usually performed for confirming a positive ELISA, so that the combined tests provide 99.9% accuracy. 
• Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS): This test sequences large amounts of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) rapidly, for determining the order of the DNA building blocks in the genetic code of the person. NGS is capable of looking for mutations in different types of protein-producing regions of DNA, which is why it is used for identifying acquired or inherited genetic diseases, majorly those that are caused by mutation that are less common. 

Out of all these technologies, NAT is the most used at medical facilities, owing to its higher sensitivity, as compared to other tests.   

All these products and technologies are utilized at a number of medical facilities, including ambulatory surgical centers, blood banks, clinics, diagnostic centers & pathology labs, and hospitals. Among all these, blood banks have made the most use of blood screening technologies in the past, which can be attributed to the increasing number of organ transplant surgeries, blood donation activities, and awareness regarding the dangers of contaminated blood all over the globe. 

Regional Scenario 

North America created the largest demand for different blood screening products in the past, owing to the surging prevalence of infectious and respiratory diseases. Take for example the current COVID-19 situation, where the number of cases is the highest in North America. This is compelling the medical device and biotechnology companies operating in the region to come up with better products for combating the pandemic. In addition to this, governments in the region are encouraging the utilization of innovative screening products, such as NAT-based products, for detecting the presence of viruses in donated blood. As such tests can detect viruses even if the viral genetic material is low and the infected person hasn’t produced antibodies, the demand for them is rising in the region. 

Other than this, the demand for these products is also projected to rise in Asia-Pacific in the years to come, due to the surging prevalence of cancer, growing incidence of chronic diseases, cost-effective labor, and increasing presence of key market players in the region. Another reason behind this is the sharp increase being witnessed in the number of voluntary blood donations in the region. The World Health Organization estimates that in 2015, Southeast Asia recorded a 5.9 million rise in the number of units of donated blood. 

In conclusion, the growing need for blood transfusions, due to the surging prevalence of diseases across the globe, is resulting the rising need to screen the blood across the globe. It’s not just diseases which mandate blood transfusions, even nasty crashes and injuries call for blood transfusions. With the increasing population, which is leading to the rising prevalence of various diseases as well as serious injuries, the need for blood is growing, which is, in turn, leading to the high adoption of blood screening procedures. 

Source: P&S Intelligence