The sixth international workshop on "Nucleic Acid Amplification Technology for the Detection of Blood Borne Viruses" was held on 5-6 May 1999 at the Istituto Superiore di Sanita in Rome, Italy. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together regulators, blood and plasma product manufacturers, national control agencies, test kits manufacturers and scientists to discuss recent experience as well as regulatory topics related to the use of NAT for the detection of blood borne viruses. Various papers were presented and discussed in 6 sessions. (C) 1999 The Internationals Association for Biologicals.