ABSTRACT
VIRAL CONTAMINATION OF BLOOD COMPONENTS AND APPROACHES FOR REDUCTION OF INFECTIVITY
Roger Y. Dodd American Red Cross Holland Laboratory
15601 Crabbs Branch Way Rockville MD 20855 USA
ABSTRACT
Currently, the United States blood supply offers a relatively low risk of viral in fection. This is a result o f careful selection of donors and extensive laboratory testing using sensitive procedures. Epidemiologic data show tha t there is some room fo r im provem ent in donor selection, but such im provem ents cannot be expected to entirely elim inate the collection of blood from infectious donors. Sim ilarly, increased numbers of tests, along w ith improvements in the analytic sensitiv ity o f these tests, may further reduce risk, but again, complete safety cannot be assured. Consequently, there is continuing interest in the developm ent of safe and e ffective procedures for viral inactivation of single donor blood components. In order to establish appropriate expectations fo r such inactivation procedures, it is necessary to understand the titers and d istributions o f viral contam inants in blood components. Viruses may variously occur free in the plasma, as replicative form s in actively infected leukocytes, as integrated proviral DNA and perhaps, nonspecifically associated w ith cellular surfaces.
