Blood Donation Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Blood Donation, including details on blood types, blood group, leukemia, red cross. | ||||||||
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False-reactive microbiologic screening test results in Swedish blood donors-how big is the problem? A survey among blood centers and deferred donors.Tynell E, Norda R, Ekermo B, Sanner M, Andersson S, Björkman A Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Unit, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital-Solna, Stockholm, Sweden. elsa.tynell@karolinska.se BACKGROUND: Screening of blood donors for markers of transfusion-transmissible infectious agents leads to a varying number of false-reactive test results and sometimes thereby temporary or permanent deferral of donors and also to loss of collected units. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Data on false-reactive screening test results in 2002 and 2003 were collected from 19 blood centers in Sweden. A questionnaire was sent to donors deferred because of false-reactive screening test results to investigate their perception of the information and their reaction to the deferral. RESULTS: Testing of 21,189 samples from new donors and 423,543 donations from regular and/or repeat donors produced 1,059 false-reactive test results, mostly from hepatitis C virus antibody testing, and 299 deferrals. Six different human immunodeficiency virus tests led to between 0.02 and 0.2 percent false-reactive results. The deferral rate varied considerably between different counties. Of 204 deferred donors contacted, 180 (88%) answered the questionnaire. More than 80 percent were worried about their test results and worry was more common among those who did not feel sufficiently informed. CONCLUSION: The results imply that there is a need for a more standardized approach to the screening of blood donors and donations with the aim of minimizing the number of false-reactive screening test results. They also emphasize the importance of appropriate information and support to deferred donors. Published 8 January 2007 in Transfusion, 47(1): 80-9.
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