ABSTRACT
Transfusion-transmitted bacterial infection remains a persistent complication of transfusion. Currently the aggregate risk of contracting a viral infection [hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-1/2), of human T-cell lymphotrophic virus types I and II (HTLV-I/II)] is estimated at 1 in 34,000 (1), while the incidence of platelet bacterial contamination is approximately 1 in 1000 and is thought to cause severe morbidity or death in as many as 150 people per year in the United States (2). While much attention has been focused by the public and the media on transfusion-transmitted disease (particularly HIV), increasing awareness and improved testing and direct questioning of donors have significantly decreased the transmission of hepatitis, retroviruses, and other viruses. Bacterial contamination of blood products, however, has been largely overlooked and is now thought to be the major cause of mortality from transfusion-transmitted disease. The risk of receiving a bacterially contaminated platelet may be 50-to 250-fold higher than the risk of transfusionrelated infection per unit associated with HIV-1, HBV, and HTLV-I/II (2).
