In:

Pathogen inactivation: emerging indications

Authors:

Steven Kleinman

Purpose of review

To review data about transfusion-transmitted infections so as to assess potential safety benefits of applying pathogen inactivation technology to platelets.

Recent findings

Residual bacterial risk still exists. Multiple arbovirus epidemics continue to occur and challenge blood safety policy makers in nonendemic developed countries. There is new documentation of transfusion transmission of dengue and Ross River viruses, and new or increased concern about chikungunya and Zika viruses. Pathogen inactivation has been shown to inactivate almost all bacterial species and several epidemic arboviruses that pose a transfusion transmission risk. The two available platelet pathogen inactivation technologies show different levels of pathogen inactivation as measured by in-vitro infectivity assays; the clinical significance of this finding is not known.

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