To understand the risk of protozoa transmission by blood is critical as: (i) the world has become globalized with extensive travel, and increased immigration; (ii) blood-borne protozoa is common in inter-Tropical areas; (iii) protozoa develop biological means to escape hosts' immune systems, together with complicated detection, surveillance, and biological testing; ...

Blood-donation-related symptoms such as dizziness and weakness discourage people from participating in this important health-related activity. Four hundred sixty-seven young adult, French-speaking blood donors were randomly assigned to (a) a condition in which they learned a possible preventive technique called applied tension and were asked to practice it from the ...

BACKGROUND: ABO and D phenotyping of both blood donors and patients receiving transfusions is routinely performed by blood banks to ensure compatibility. These analyses are performed by antibody-based agglutination assays. Blood is not tested for minor blood group antigens on a regular basis, however, because of cost and time constraints. ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to investigate whether sending a personalized and informative letter to early career donors would increase the number returning to donate again, as the literature suggests that it is at around the third donation that people become career donors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Experimental participants ...

On occasion, there arise questions or situations involving blood-donor eligibility determination, which are not adequately addressed by the existing regulations and standards. In such instances, even the most experienced blood collector may be uncertain regarding the best course of action and unable to find adequate guidance in the standard blood ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: IgA deficient patients are at risk of severe anaphylactic reaction on being transfused blood and blood products, and its prevalence varies in different parts of the world. No data are available from India. We did a blood donor survey to look for prevalence of IgA deficiency in ...

Objective: Blood donation leads to substantial iron loss, as about 0.5 mg iron is lost per each milliliter of blood donated. If not compensated for efficiently, the iron loss may eventually lead to anemia, though non-anemic iron deficiency per se may be problematic. The aim of this study was to ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Exploitation of economies of scale is often argued in favour of blood-bank consolidation into large regional centres, despite a lack of adequate empirical support. This study was aimed at testing the economies of scale hypothesis in a sample of blood centres in the USA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ...

Celiac disease (CD) is an underdiagnosed disease occurring in different clinical forms. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of CD among blood donors from Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, and to study some demographic characteristics of celiac patients. Blood samples from 3000 blood donors were tested for the presence of tissue ...

The aim of this study was to screen and identify the types of thalassemia among blood donors at the Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM). Thalassemia screening was performed by hemoglobin electrophoresis. A total number of 80 blood samples were obtained from donors at the Transfusion Medicine Unit, HUSM. The ethnic ...

The prevalence of malaria parasitaemia was investigated among screened blood donors at Jos University Teaching Hospital between April and June 2003. A total of 200 blood donors that were systematically selected were examined for malaria parasitaemia. Twenty two samples were positive giving a prevalence of 11.0% and only Plasmodium falciparum ...

The micronucleus test in binucleated lymphocytes is a sensitive standard assay for biomonitoring, mutagenicity testing and to assess radiosensitivity of blood donors. The results vary between laboratories and scorers which led to the definition of international scoring criteria. We used these criteria in a case-control study, but nevertheless observed large ...

Adrian Lomaga, a McGill law student who is gay, is suing Héma-Québec because it refuses to accept his blood donation. Héma-Québec, which is the blood collection agency for the province, imposes a lifetime ban on blood donations from men who have had sex with another man even once since 1977. ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: West Nile virus (WNV) can be transmitted by transfusion through infected blood components. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of WNV infection among Dutch blood donors to assess whether WNV is a possible threat for the Dutch blood supply. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Plasma samples from 61 ...

Critical donor selection and testing increases the safety of blood transfusion by excluding donors at risk of transmitting infections. This study investigated the seroprevalence of and risk factors for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among accepted and deferred blood donors in Jamaica. A total of 1015 blood donors consisting of 794 ...

BACKGROUND: Predonation screening questions about travel increase the safety of the blood supply from diseases such as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) and malaria. This study examines the ability of sequential surveys to predict actual travel deferrals and the operational validity of travel questions. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: To assess donor ...

Our aim was to show that the colour difference between brighter and darker red, occasionally observed as an oscillating boundary in the recipient and donor parts of an arterioarterial anastomosis in severe twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), is a consequence of natural differences in blood oxygenation and hematocrit developing between donor ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of prolonged queuing times on blood donors, by measuring their satisfaction levels, and positive and negative affects. As donation times have increased over the past number of years within the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, this is an ...

BACKGROUND: The recruitment and retention of voluntary, nonremunerated blood donors continues to be a challenge in China. Understanding donor demographics and donor characteristics is crucial for any blood center in developing strategies to recruit potential donors. STUDY DESIGN and METHODS: The study population included all 29,784 whole blood donors from ...

In an epidemiological investigation of trench fever in Japan, we compared the seroprevalence of Bartonella quintana in homeless people and in the general population. In homeless rescue outreach programs held in Tokyo from May 2001 to March 2003, 151 blood samples were taken from non-hospitalized homeless people. The prevalence of ...

BACKGROUND: Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan cause of Chagas disease, causes life-long infection and is easily transmitted by blood transfusion. Our goals were to determine the prevalence of Chagas disease among donors in five Mexican blood banks, to look for evidence of transmission of T. cruzi by transfusion, and to evaluate ...

CONTEXT: The South African National Blood Service collects more than 700,000 units of blood annually from a population in which 11.4% is infected with human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1). The prevalence of HIV-1 in blood donations increased to 0.26% (1:385) in 1998, indicating that a significant number of window-period infective ...

BACKGROUND: The high incidence of donor reactions in first-time, 17-year-old Caucasian whole-blood donors makes this group ideal for the study of donor reactions. STUDY DESIGN and METHODS: Donor reaction rates were retrospectively evaluated in 7274 first-time, 17-year-old Caucasian whole-blood donors based on observations recorded at the collection sites. The effect ...

BACKGROUND: Allogeneic peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPC) transplantation requires granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) administration to mobilize PBPCs in healthy donors. The effects of G-CSF on pulmonary functions, however, have not been clearly elucidated in PBPC donors. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Respiratory status by measurements of arterial blood gas was prospectively evaluated ...

The present study sought to determine the frequency of blood transfusion and to evaluate the need for autogenous blood donations in patients undergoing bimaxillary orthognathic surgery. According to an inclusion and exclusion protocol, 65 patients were selected for further analysis. Twenty-six patients donated a total of 45 units of autogenous ...

Blood transfusion is an important routine practice in veterinary medicine that generally involves the use of whole blood. Permanent blood donors must be vaccinated against viral infections that affect dogs and submitted periodically to clinical and serological examinations to detect blood-transmitted diseases. There is a very high risk of transmission ...

Human volunteer blood donor programs are commonplace, but the concept of nonhuman animal blood banking is relatively new. Few studies exist regarding efficacy, donor screening, and safety for volunteer companion animals. This retrospective study evaluated a nonprofit, community-based canine volunteer donor program using community blood drives. Of 98 potential donors, ...

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the percent of the donor population in a South Texas community positive for the red cell antigen Diego(a) (Di(a)) and to determine the percent of anti-Di(a) in previously transfused patients. DESIGN: Donor segments from 270 type A and type O donors ...

We describe a heterozygous case of Hb I-Philadelphia [alpha 16 (A14) LYS-->GLU] in a blood donor from the Acre State Blood Bank, in the Brazilian Amazon region. We confirmed the mutation by electrophoretic and chromatographic methods and by DNA sequencing. A literature search showed that this is the first description ...

In this study, the physiological parameters such as extracellular (SAGM+CPD+residual plasma) Na+, K+, Cl-, pH, 2,3-DPG and ATP together with the Cole-Cole parameters were measured using erythrocyte suspensions from 51 male donors (31 donors form the training set and 20 donors are used for testing), on the 0th, 10th, 21st, ...

The objectives of this retrospective study were to assess the economic impact that the practice of 'family replacement donor system' has on the operational costs of a rural blood bank and to rationalize efficient blood screening protocols with a view to minimizing blood screening costs without compromising blood safety. Prevalence ...

BACKGROUND: West Nile virus (WNV) is the etiologic agent of an emerging disease in the Western Hemisphere that can be transmitted to humans by blood transfusion. WNV first appeared in the United States in 1999, in Canada in 2001, and in Mexico in 2002. The aim of this nationwide study ...

BACKGROUND: National legislation in Pakistan regulating blood banks has been introduced several times, but has never been passed. To support provincial-level efforts to develop legislation we conducted a study to evaluate blood-banking practices in Karachi, Pakistan, to identify areas that could be improved. METHODS: Thirty-seven blood banks were randomly selected ...

BACKGROUND: Whole-blood donation times in a donor population when there are no impediments to blood donation at any point can be used to determine the shortest median whole-blood donation time. This statistic is relevant to blood donors and collection staff. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Small, over-staffed blood drives in August ...

TRALI is a challenging diagnosis for both the transfusion specialist and the clinician. A Canadian consensus panel has recently proposed guidelines to better define TRALI and its implications. The guidelines recommend classifying each suspected case in one of the following 3 categories: (1) "TRALI," (2) "Possible TRALI," or (3) "Not ...

National Blood Service (NBS) Tissue Services (TS) operates living donor and deceased donor tissue banking programmes. The living bone donor programme operates in collaboration with 91 orthopaedic departments across the country and collects bone donations, in the form of surgically removed femoral heads (FHs), from over 5,000 patients per annum ...

BACKGROUND: In the Soviet period, the blood donation system operated in Lithuania exclusively on a remunerative basis. After joining the EU, Lithuania committed itself to meeting the EU requirements to provide all consumers within its boundaries with safe blood products made from voluntary unpaid blood donations. However, the introduction of ...

BACKGROUND: With the emergence of e-mail as a common form of communication, it is important to understand the role and impact e-mail can have on acquiring and retaining whole-blood donors. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Whole-blood donors who opted in to receive e-mail communications (n = 43,232) from the Puget Sound ...

Availability of blood for transfusion is of utmost importance in the fight against maternal morbidity and mortality. This study was conducted to identify the socio-demographic characteristics and reasons of persons declining voluntary blood donation. Patients' relatives declining blood donation in rural Ebonyi State were randomly recruited and interviewed using standardised ...

The HIV, in hemotheraphy, may be transmitted by erythrocyte, platelets, crioprecipitated, frozen fresh plasma and possibly, by other blood components. Appropriate legislations for this new reality were elaborated normatizing the hemotheraphy practices in Brazil, creating a set of procedures and actions aiming at guaranteeing the quality of the blood, during ...

BACKGROUND: The Ecuadorian National Blood System collects approximately 100 000 units of blood per year. Screening for infectious agents is conducted by 23 autonomous blood services using different methodologies and reagents. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the performance of serology testing by laboratories of the Ecuadorian National Blood Bank System. STUDY DESIGN: ...

Electronic crossmatching (E-XM) is used to detect ABO incompatibility. In developing countries, as many of the donations are from first-time donors, it is difficult to guarantee the accuracy of the ABO/Rh label on these units to use them for E-XM. This problem was overcome with a new software 'hemosoft', using ...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in systolic arterial blood pressure (SABP) immediately after collection of blood for transfusion in retired racing Greyhounds. We prospectively evaluated 19 blood donor Greyhounds before and after the collection of a unit (450 mL) of blood. The SABP was measured with ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to establish which motivational and socio-demographic factors are important for the development of a long-term commitment as a voluntary, non-remunerated blood donor. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A cross-sectional sample survey of active blood donors in Oslo, Norway, was conducted. Donors filled ...

The purpose of our study was to assess whether Leishmania infantum parasitemia occurs in asymptomatic Leishmania-seropositive subjects. Samples from 500 blood donors were tested using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Anti-Leishmania antibodies were not found in any sample. Our findings suggest that the risk of L. infantum transmission by blood ...

The aim of the study was to estimate the type, incidence and causes of donor adverse reactions during and after blood donation in a Greek Blood Bank, where medical staff is responsible for donor selection. 12 173 blood donors were studied for adverse reactions. One-hundred and seven (0.87%) donors had ...

BACKGROUND: The reliability of capillary hemoglobin (Hb) as an indicator for eligibility to donate blood is discussed controversially. Therefore, a noninvasive alternative with acceptable predictive values was established and evaluated. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Donor candidates were selected according to their Hb level. The first donation was performed 6 weeks ...

BACKGROUND: Health history questions are introduced into the predonation interview to identify blood donors believed to pose a higher risk of infectious diseases to recipients. This study assesses the current impact of some of those questions. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Donor deferral and donation data were extracted from a research ...

Blood safety continues to be an issue of concern in most countries of the African region. An important contributing factor to blood insecurity is the absence of regular, voluntary and nonremunerated blood donors. An update is provided on blood donors in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Raising the alarm through the dissemination of ...

Previous studies using small or restricted samples suggest that vasovagal reactions to blood donation are associated with a decreased likelihood of repeat donation. In the present study, we examined data for all allogeneic whole blood donors (n=89,587) in the American Red Cross Blood Services, Central Ohio Region during an entire ...