Blood Transfusion

Blood transfusions are an important part of haematological care. Transfusion is the transfer of blood, its components, or products from one person (donor) into another person’s bloodstream (recipient).

However, steps have been taken in the last decade to avoid, detect, and eliminate this complication through improved donor selection, specialized preparation of the arm before needle insertion, and special screening techniques. Despite ongoing improvements in the collection, processing, testing, delivery, and monitoring of transfusions during the past several decades, concerns over the safety of these therapies and the process in general continue today. Historically, there was concern about transmitting infectious diseases from a donor to a recipient. Now blood is regularly tested for infectious disease transmission, particularly for viruses such as Hepatitis B and C, HIV, Malaria and VDRL. Traditionally, serum has been tested to look for the body’s response to past infectious exposure, but many serum tests have been replaced by molecular testing called nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT), which finds active viruses in the donor’s blood to determine infection risk.