Additional testing of your blood donation

Please be aware have started running two additional tests on all donations (blood, platelets and plasma).

As part of our ongoing commitment to donor and patient safety, we’ve introduced universal Hepatitis A and Parvovirus testing for all our Scottish donors who’ve donated since 27th July 2024.

This additional testing was planned as part of our Plasma for Medicines programme.

Hepatitis A testing is very sensitive. It is good at picking up any infections which means the testing benefits all donors whether they are donating plasma, platelets or whole blood.

Hepatitis A: Hepatitis A is a viral infection which leads to inflammation of the liver and can cause mild to severe illness. Hepatitis A is usually a food-borne virus which can be spread by hand-to-mouth contact of something that has been contaminated by the faeces (stools) of someone with hepatitis A. As such, one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the hepatitis A infection is good hand hygiene with thorough hand washing and drying. Symptoms are generally a flu-like illness, loss of appetite, nausea, fever, abdominal pains or jaundice (a yellowing of the eyes or skin). The infection clears with time and usually there are no long-term effects. A very small proportion of people infected with Hepatitis A could develop serious complications.

Parvovirus B19: Parvovirus is a common childhood infection, better known as Slapped Cheek Syndrome. Usually, it causes mild disease but it can be more serious for some people, including people with lowered immunity, people with sickle cell disease and in pregnancy.

As with all our tests, you will notice no difference to the donation process, and you will only hear from us if you have a Positive test result. If you'd like to discuss this with us, please do not hesitate to contact us.

You can also read more in our Donor Information Leaflet.