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Bacterial contamination of platelets and red blood cell concentrates: A regional transfusion center study in Pakistan
Muhammad Ali Rathore, Mohammad Abdul Naeem, Anum Javed, Mansoor Ishaq Raja
Department of Screening, Armed Forces Institute of Transfusion, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Correspondence Address:
Muhammad Ali Rathore,
Armed Forces Institute of Transfusion, Sher Khan Road, Rawalpindi
Pakistan
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None DOI: 10.4103/ajts.ajts_129_20
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BACKGROUND: Posttransfusion bacterial sepsis is mostly attributed to platelets and rarely red blood cell concentrates (RBCC). However, bacterial screening of both of these blood components can mitigate the risk of transfusion-associated hazards.
AIMS: The study was aimed at evaluating the prevalence of bacterial contamination in whole blood-derived platelets and RBCC in a regional blood bank in northern Pakistan.
SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was carried out at a regional transfusion center in Rawalpindi from January 2019 to 2020.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 400 cellular blood components were tested aerobically and anaerobically for bacterial contamination using BD BACTEC™ FX 40 automated culture system. Over the period of incubation, culture vials that showed positive signals were subcultured onto a set of solid media followed by bacterial identification.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 21.0 (Chicago, Illinois, USA). The overall prevalence of bacterial contamination was reported as a percentage of positive whole blood-derived platelets and RBCC.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Of 400 cultured components, 1% whole blood-derived platelets were contaminated with Gram-positive bacteria including coagulase-negative Staphylococcus species and Staphylococcus aureus, whereas none of the RBCC were found to be contaminated with any bacteria. A significant percentage of platelets had bacterial contamination, whereas no unit of red blood cells was found to be bacterially contaminated. Therefore, strict adherence to standard operating procedures is required to avoid the risk of contamination of blood products.
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