[Blood safety in the Netherlands: prevention of blood-transmitted infections].

Amongst the various blood-safety measures to prevent blood-transmitted infections in transfusion recipients, the most important are the selection of blood donors and the testing for infections of the donations. A look-back procedure aims to inform hospitals about potentially infected blood products and to trace the relevant recipients. The opposite, reverse look-back, can also occur: following a report that a patient has an infection of which blood transfusion may be the possible source, all possibly implicated donors will be screened for the particular agent.

Rare transmission of hepatitis B virus by Dutch donors with occult infection.

Background: To reduce the rate of transfusion-transmitted hepatitis B virus (HBV), HBV DNA testing was introduced for all Dutch blood donations in 2008, in addition to the existing screening for HBV surface antigen (HBsAg). This study describes the lookback results for repeat donors with an "HBV DNA-only" test result (HBV DNA-positive and HBsAg-negative).

Study Design And Methods: From November 2008 until June 2011, a total of 2.

Transfusion-related acute lung injury reports in the Netherlands: an observational study.

Background: Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is a serious, sometimes fatal complication of transfusion, attributed to white blood cell (WBC)-reactive antibodies present in the blood product. This study investigated incidence and etiology in the Netherlands.

Study Design And Methods: From January 2005 through July 2007, all TRALI cases reported to the Sanquin Blood Banks were evaluated.