Detection of bacterial contamination of platelet components: six years’ experience with the BacT/ALERT system

Abstract

A screening system for detection of bacterial contamination was implemented without increase in cost owing to extension of storage time to 7 days. Transfusion of several contaminated blood components was prevented.

Screening of platelet concentrates for bacterial contamination: spectrum of bacteria detected, proportionof transfused units, and clinical follow-up

“…A series of studies reports on the screening results of PCs with automated culture systems [3,4,6,7,[14][15][16][17]. Comparability of the results is limited.…”

“…If the six cases in this study in which follow-up revealed clinical reactions following the transfusion of potentially or confirmed contaminated PCs are considered unelucidated, 80 patients remain who were transfused with potentially positive PCs and 26 patients received confirmed positive [4,6,7,14,16,17]. However, it is noteworthy that none of the six cases of mild clinical reactions in our study was reported actively but was revealed only by solicited feedback after the treating physicians had been questioned in the study follow-up by the blood service.…”

“…In brief, arm disinfection was undertaken in two stages with a licensed disinfectant, which was left to act for at least 30 s. With all samples, pre-donation sampling involved the diversion of the first 30-40 ml of blood into a separate bag. Leukocyte depletion was incorporated into the preparation of apheresis and pooled PCs with a target value of <10 6 /unit. The shelf life of PCs was 5 days.…”

“…In particular, platelet concentrates (PCs) that are stored at 20-24°C provide good bacterial growth conditions and are considered the main cause of bacterially induced transfusion disorders [5]. In the meantime, automated bacterial culture systems are used in some countries to screen PCs for bacterial contamination [6,7]. BacT/ALERT™ (bioMérieux, Durham, NC, USA) is the system most commonly employed [8].…”

Novel Flow Cytometry–Based Screening for Bacterial Contamination of Donor Platelet Preparations Compared with Other Rapid Screening Methods

“…Screening of platelet preparations (PLTs) 2 for bacterial contamination by prospective culture testing has been implemented as part of the quality assurance program in several blood services. Despite screening of PLTs for bacterial contamination by culture, it has been demonstrated that there is still a substantial infection risk associated with transfusing PLTs, and septic complications have been observed in recipients, particularly with PLTs Ͼ4 days old (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). Early sampling strategies exhibit a high risk of sampling error, particularly when slow-growing bacteria are involved in the contamination.…”