TRANSFUSION-TRANSMITTED DISEASES

Viruses

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

Transfusion transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS is to be avoided with utmost care and precaution.

Human T Lymphotropic Virus I, -II (HTLV-I, -II)

HTLV I and II are obscure viruses that are not related to HIV. HTLV-I is found mainly in Southwestern Japan and Caribbean islands. The virus may eventually cause blood or nervous system diseases in a very small number of infected people.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV)

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a herpes virus that can be transmitted by blood transfusion. CMV infection is usually mild, but it may be serious or fatal in those who are immunocompromised. Particularly at risk are low-birth weight infants and bone marrow and heart-lung transplant patients. If a patient is at high risk of getting CMV diseases, blood that tests negative for CMV can be transfused. Alternatively, blood which has been filtered to decrease the number of white blood cells – the cells that cause CMV – may protect patients from getting a CMV infection from transfusion.

Parasitic Infections

Malaria

Malaria can cause serious consequences, including fatalities. Blood banks should temporarily defer blood donations from people who have visited malarial areas in the recent past year.

Babesiosis

Babesiosis is a parasitic infection that is carried by the white-footed mouse and transmitted by tick bites. People who have been infected through tick bites can only transmit the parasite through blood for a very short period of time after being exposed. However, some patients, including those who do not have a spleen or whose immunity is compromised, may be at risk of serious illness. Those individuals with a history of the disease are to be permanently deferred from donating blood.

Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by a parasite that is often carried by cats. Infection usually is the result of coming into contact with contaminated cat waste, such as when handling cat litter. Most infected people are healthy and have no symptoms of the infection. No transfusion-transmitted infections have been reported in the World. since an outmoded form of white blood cell transfusions was discontinued in the 1970s.

Chagas’ Disease

Chagas’ Disease was discovered almost 100 years ago by a Brazilian doctor, Carlos Chagas. This disease is caused by a parasite that infects as many as 18 million people worldwide. Each year, several thousand of  People die of heart and digestive problems caused by the disease. Up to 20% of infected people never exhibit symptoms. This infection is rare in the World.

Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is associated with the bite of the eastern deer tick , and can cause an illness that affects many systems within the body. Donors with a history of Lyme disease can donate provided they no longer have symptoms and have undergone a full course of antibiotic treatment.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Blood transfusions have never been shown to transmit Creutfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). CJD is a rare, degenerative and fatal nervous system disorder. Affected individuals can remain asymptomatic for decades after infection and then progress rapidly to dementia, severe loss of coordination and death. CJD rarely has been transmitted to individuals who received injections of human pituitary gland growth hormone, or who have had their brain’s outer lining (dura mater) repaired with dura mater from someone else. Scientists believe abnormal brain proteins that have undergone a peculiar shape change can cause other brain proteins to do the same and cause CJD. Currently, there is no test for the disease. Donors are questioned about family history of CJD and surgeries that involved transplanted dura mater. If they answer affirmatively to any of these questions, they are should not be permitted to donate blood.