Relationship between Bacterial Load, Species Virulence, and Transfusion Reaction with Transfusion of Bacterially Contaminated Platelets

Abstract

Active surveillance detected 32-fold more bacterially contaminated platelet units and 10.6-fold more septic reactions than did passive surveillance, and virulent species and bacterial counts of > or =10(5) colony-forming units/mL were associated with more-severe transfusion reactions. Improved detection methods or use of pathogen inactivation technology are needed to eliminate this problem.