WHO Declares Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo an International Emergency The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo… July 25, 2019
Bacterial sepsis among transfusion recipients despite secondary mitigation strategies Bacterial contamination of platelet products is the most common transfusion-transmitted infection in the United States (U.S.). To mitigate this risk,… June 28, 2019
New FDA Recommendations for Babesiosis Screening of Blood Donations Babesiosis, caused by a tick-borne intra-erythrocytic parasite, is normally asymptomatic in humans but can cause severe and even deadly flu-like… May 16, 2019
The BEST Criteria to Decide Whether or Not to Culture Suspected Blood Components Life-threatening septic transfusion reactions (STR) can occur when blood components are contaminated with bacteria. Definitive diagnosis of STR, however, may… May 8, 2019
Chagas Disease Screening for Family Members of Positive Blood Donors Chagas disease (CD) is a zoonotic infection caused by blood sucking Trypanosoma cruzi—a parasite that infects over 6 million people… April 10, 2019
Babesia and Bacterial Contamination Most Frequent Transfusion-Transmitted Infections Based on hemovigilance data from the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), viral transfusion-transmitted infections (TTI) are rare while bacterial contamination… January 30, 2019
How Cost-Effective Is Zika Virus Screening? In 2016, the United States began mandated screening of individual donations for the Zika Virus (ZIKV) using nucleic acid testing… October 31, 2018
Sexually Transmitted Disease Rates among Reinstated MSM Donors In December 2016, the American Red Cross began collecting blood from men who have sex with men (MSM) in… October 17, 2018
Pathogen Reduction Technologies and Hemostatic Efficacy of Platelets Pathogen reduction technologies (PRTs) for platelets inactivate known and unknown viruses, bacteria, and parasites in addition to inactivating white blood… July 18, 2018
Revisiting Zika virus screening for donated blood In 2015, the Zika virus (ZIKV) rapidly spread to the Americas and other countries, and four possible transfusion-transmission cases were… May 10, 2018
Transfusion Transmitted Infections