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Nucleic Acid Testing – Past, Present and Future: Additional Agents, Expansion and Competing Technologies

Publication Date: 12 June 2026

Continuing Education Credits: 1.0 hour

Course Description

In this lecture Dr. Susan L. Stramer, PhD, MS, presents a continuation of the evolution, impact, and future directions of nucleic acid testing (NAT) for blood donor safety. The focus of this lecture is NAT plus competing technologies directed towards Emerging Infectious Disease (EID) agents. She begins by highlighting the agents that will be discussed and their current and evolving mitigation strategies. Strategies include variations of selective testing using antibody methods, modifications of NAT depending on the agent’s epidemiology including seasonal testing, focused testing and pool sizes used, red cell parasites that require red cell lysis followed by NAT, NAT multiplexing for multiple agent detection; alternatives to NAT including leukoreduction for leukocyte-associated agents, and pathogen reduction. Discussed are the agents for which NAT has been evaluated worldwide including: hepatitis E virus (HEV), West Nile virus (WNV), Babesia, Plasmodium, parvovirus, human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and bacteria. Dr. Stramer then discusses the international use and the agent-specific expansion of NAT. Lastly, Dr. Stramer discusses the impact of pathogen reduction and potential for the streamlining of donation screening strategies leading to the eventual co-existence of pathogen reduction and NAT.

Course Objectives
  • Identify infectious disease agents that may pose an existing or emerging threat to blood product safety
  • Evaluate the pros and cons of nucleic acid testing (NAT) for emerging/emerged infectious disease (EID) agents with respect to blood product safety
  • Describe the potential technologies used as an intervention for EIDs

Run Time: 58:16

Course Instructor Bio(s)

Susan Stramer, PhD, MS

Infectious Disease Consultant
North Potomac, MD

Susan L. Stramer, PhD, MS is currently an Infectious Disease consultant, having recently retired after serving 28 years at the American Red Cross with her last position for 10 years as the Vice President of Scientific Affairs in Biomedical Services. Her primary interests are the agents of infectious diseases transmitted by blood, their epidemiology, and interventions, particularly related to developmental diagnostics. To date, she has authored over 290 peer-reviewed papers and received numerous awards including those from the American Red Cross, Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, the California Blood Bank Society, the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB), the International Society for Blood Transfusion (ISBT), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. She is a past president of the AABB, past chair of the Transfusion-Transmitted Diseases Committee of the AABB, and serves on several committees of the ISBT. She is also on the editorial board of Transfusion Medicine Reviews and an associate editor for the journal Transfusion. She has delivered talks on blood safety on six continents and in at least 50 countries.

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