title: Detection of bacterial contamination and DNA quantification in stored blood units in 2 veterinary hospital blood banks.
abstract: Blood transfusions in veterinary medicine have become increasingly more common and are now an integral part of lifesaving and advanced treatment in small and large animals. Important risks associated with transfusion of blood products include the transmission of various infectious diseases. Several guidelines suggest what infectious agents to screen for in canine and feline transfusion medicine. However, while the risk of bacterial contamination of blood products during storage and administration has not been documented in veterinary medicine, it has emerged as a cause of morbidity and mortality in human transfusion medicine. Clinical experience shows that the majority of blood component bacterial contaminations are caused by only a few species. Unlike other types of bacteria, psychrotolerant species like Pseudomonas spp. and Serratia spp. can proliferate during the storage of blood units at 4°C from a very low titer at the time of blood collection to a clinically significant level (> 10(5) CFU/mL) causing clinical sepsis resulting from red blood cell concentrate transfusions in human medicine. The purpose of this report was to describe the detection and quantification procedures applied in 4 cases of bacterial contamination of canine and feline blood units, which suggest the need for further investigations to optimize patients' safety in veterinary transfusion medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy. valentina.stefanetti@studenti.unipg.it.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Stefanetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5459-6298
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miglio
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cappelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Capomaccio
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sgariglia
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Marenzoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Antognoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Coletti
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mangili
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Passamonti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology*; D001771:Blood Banks; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000662:veterinary; D002415:Cats / Q000097:blood; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D004285:Dogs / Q000097:blood; D006762:Hospitals, Animal
chemical_list: D004247:DNA
keywords: Bacterial contamination; Pseudomonas spp.; Serratia spp.; blood products; blood transfusion