title: Transfusion-related bacterial sepsis.
abstract: Transfusion-associated bacterial sepsis is a persistent problem in transfusion medicine, posing a greater threat than the combined risks of receiving a blood product contaminated with HIV-1 or 2, hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and human T-cell lymphtrophic virus (HTVL) -I or -II. This article provides a brief overview of the current incidence, clinical presentation, associated blood products and organisms, and the most feasible and effective methods available to reduce the potential risk of transfusion-associated sepsis. Because bacterial contamination of blood products is the most frequent cause of transfusion-transmitted infectious disease, and as no single existing strategy can completely eliminate its risk, it is important that clinical suspicion be high, and any partial solutions additively be implemented.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Reading
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Brecher
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000635:transmission; D001773:Blood Cells / Q000382:microbiology; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D018805:Sepsis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D013242:Sterilization; D065227:Transfusion Reaction