Hemorrhagic shock and its complications are a major cause of death among trauma patients. The management of hemorrhagic shock using a damage control resuscitation strategy has been shown to decrease mortality and improve patient outcomes. One of the components of damage control resuscitation is hemostatic resuscitation, which involves the replacement of lost blood volume with components such as packed red blood cells, fresh frozen plasma, cryoprecipitate, and platelets in a 1:1:1:1 ratio. However, this is a strategy that is not applicable in many parts of Latin America and other low-and-middle-income countries throughout the world, where there is a lack of well-equipped blood banks and an insufficient availability of blood products. To overcome these barriers, we propose the use of cold fresh whole blood for hemostatic resuscitation in exsanguinating patients. Over 6 years of experience in Ecuador has shown that resuscitation with cold fresh whole blood has similar outcomes and a similar safety profile compared to resuscitation with hemocomponents. Whole blood confers many advantages over component therapy including, but not limited to the transfusion of blood with a physiologic ratio of components, ease of transport and transfusion, less volume of anticoagulants and additives transfused to the patient, and exposure to fewer donors. Whole blood is a tool with reemerging potential that can be implemented in civilian trauma centers with optimal results and less technical demand.

El virus linfotrópico humano (HTLV) de tipos I y II es un retrovirus prevalente en la Costa Pacífica colombiana que puede transmitirse por transfusiones de sangre. En el 2014 se reglamentó la tamización para bancos de sangre con el fin de reducir la transmisión por medio de la donación. La información sobre la seroprevalencia del virus en el suroccidente colombiano es limitada. Objetivo. Determinar la seroprevalencia, el comportamiento a lo largo del tiempo de los resultados reactivos antes y después de la introducción del inmunoensayo Western blot y la concomitancia del HTLV con otros marcadores de infección en donantes de un banco de sangre de Cali, Colombia

No abstract