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Florida Blood Services' new tests are among the latest measures to protect the nation's blood supply.
By LEONORA LaPETER
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 5, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG -- Florida Blood Services will be among the first blood suppliers in the country to test blood for bacterial infections, which likely contribute to 100 deaths and hundreds of illnesses a year.
Tampa Bay's largest blood supplier will use a new test on about 50 percent of all donated platelets, the blood's clotting agent, to detect more than 600 bacteria, such as salmonella, E coli and staphylococcus. None of these infections can be contracted by donating blood -- only by receiving a blood transfusion.
"It's one other area of safeguard for the blood supply," said J.B. Gaskins, vice president of recruitment and donor services at Florida Blood Services. "People are so concerned about the big H's -- hepatitis and HIV -- we've lost focus that more people are exposed to bacterial contamination than HIV or hepatitis through a blood transfusion."
Florida Blood Services, which serves Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties, already conducts more than 20 tests on donated blood, including for HIV, hepatitis, blood cancers and venereal diseases. In January, FBS was one of six U.S. blood centers to begin participating in clinical trials for an experimental blood-cleansing procedure that is believed to kill a wide range of organisms, including HIV, malaria and mad cow disease. So far, four patients served by FBS have received the cleansed blood as part of the clinical trial. The tests to spot bacterial infections, approved last October by the Food and Drug Administration, are the newest measures to protect the nation's blood supply.
A machine known as BacT Alert works by storing a sample of platelets at a high temperature, allowing the bacteria to grow faster. FBS receives a computer readout on the bacteria count.
Platelets are most susceptible to bacterial infections, because they must be stored at room temperature and allow bacteria to grow. They are critical to help patients with cancer, leukemia or aplastic anemia or who must undergo open heart surgery or a transplant.
The tests are used only on platelets collected through a computerized cell separator, which draws blood from a donor, removes the platelets and returns the plasma and red cells to the donor. This represents about half of Florida Blood Services' platelet supply.
Platelets derived from a standard blood donation would not be tested for bacterial infections, though FBS says it plans to study whether that would be a viable option.
The new testing still doesn't ensure a risk-free blood supply. Last August, a patient died after receiving a contaminated transfusion collected by Florida Blood Services. The transfusion used blood from a standard donation and therefore wouldn't have received the new tests. The company recalled a unit of the blood that was sent to another hospital, but FBS officials said the patient, whom they declined to identify, already suffered from a bacterial infection before receiving the transfusion and suffered from leukemia.
The additional safeguards also come with a price, and not just a financial one.
The test adds about $10 to the $100 cost to process a unit of blood.
In addition, platelets are only good for five days after they are collected. The additional testing means the platelets would not be available until the third day after collection, said Dr. German F. Leparc, the medical director of FBS.
"You're taking 20 percent of its lifetime, so now that means we expect to lose platelets because they're going to expire sooner," Leparc said.