Effectiveness of Malaria Antibody Test for Screening Blood Donors / 대한수혈학회지

ABSTRACT

The Republic of Korea has been using malaria antibody assays to screen blood donors and reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted malaria (TTM). This study examined the effectiveness of the current malaria antibody test for screening blood donors and calculated the positive predictive value (PPV) with the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) as the reference. The reactive rate and PPV of the malaria antibody screening assay during particular period from 2020 to 2021 were 0.82% (248/30,309) and 0.40% (1/248), respectively. The low PPV of current malaria antibody screening in blood donors suggests that the effectiveness of this test is limited in terms of balancing blood safety and supply in low-prevalence situations.