Risks and side effects of therapy with plasma and plasma fractions.

Transfusion of plasma can lead to adverse reactions or events. Immune-mediated reactions are most common--these include allergic and anaphylactic reactions, transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) and haemolysis. They can range in severity from mild to fatal.

The rationale for pathogen-inactivation treatment of blood components.

Blood transfusion provides an ideal portal of entry for microorganisms. Although current residual risks of microbial infection by transfusion are extremely low in the developed world, the requirements for even safer blood are paradoxically increasing. Such requirements are partly a legacy of the tragic transmissions of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by blood early in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome pandemic and are legally expressed in consumer protection laws imposing strict product liability.

Evaluation of a transcription-mediated amplification-based HCV and HIV-1 RNA duplex assay for screening individual blood donations: a comparison with a minipool testing system.

Background: NAT was introduced for HCV RNA in 1999 to screen blood donations and improve the safety of the blood supply.

Study Design And Methods: The performance of a NAT multiplex for HCV and HIV-1 RNA based on transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) was assessed with various sensitivity panels and by screening 50,000 serologically unscreened, first-time donor plasma samples. Results were compared with a routine NAT screening for HCV RNA by RT-PCR in pools of 96 plasma samples.

Evidence for a dynamic host-parasite relationship in e-negative hepatitis B carriers.

Anti-hepatitis Be (HBe) carriers are perceived as having low infectivity, with hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels far below those seen in the HBeAg carrier. However, the temporal stability of HBV DNA in anti-HBe carriers remains poorly characterised. UK Department of Health guidelines use HBV DNA levels to define whether HBV-infected health care workers may perform exposure-prone procedures.