Post-transfusion bacteremia

Bacteria The annual report of the UK Hemovigilance Office mentions one fatal transfusion-related infection (0.08% of all reports) associated with bacterial contamination of erythrocytes [7 ]. In the USA two fatal cases comprised 5% of all transfusion-related fatalities reported [8 ]. Of Dutch reports of post-transfusion bacteremia, one was assessed as having plausibly resulted from a bacterially contaminated blood component [6 ]. 

Adverse events related to transfusion of blood components have been reported, including febrile non-hemolytic transfusion reactions, mild febrile reactions, acute and delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions, transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALl), anaphylactic and other allergic reactions, graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), transfusion-associated circulatory overload (TACO), viral infections, post-transfusion bacteremia, transfusion-associated sepsis (TAS), hemosiderosis, post-transfusion purpura, and new allo-antibody formation [18 , 19 ]. Whole blood, erythrocytes, leukocytes, platelets, and plasma for transfusion (fresh frozen plasma, FFP) are involved. Quite a number of these adverse effects, such as TRALl, TACO, TAS, and allergic/anaphylactic reactions can be difficult to evaluate. 

---