Filenews 2 June 2021
Covid-19 does not pose a threat to blood safety and transfusions, as a new reassuring American study shows.
The researchers, who published the study in the medical journal Transfusion, analysed data on the presence of coronavirus in nearly 18,000 blood samples, representing about 257,800 blood donations, collected in the U.S. by 2020.
It was found that only three samples tested positive for coronavirus and these all had a very low viral load, so that the virus was not transmitted to the person receiving the blood. The researchers concluded that the probability of a blood transfusion with traces of coronavirus was only 0.001% (about one in 100,000), insignificant in relation to transmission of the virus through the air.
"This finding is good news for the thousands of patients who may need a blood transfusion due to surgery or disease that causes anaemia, such as a rare clothing disorder or leukaemia," said lead researcher Dr. Simone Glin of the U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
The researchers pointed out that there is no reason to change current guidelines and practices regarding blood donations and blood control amid the pandemic. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require that all blood samples be tested for coronavirus, but blood donors must be tested for possible Covid-19 symptoms and those from people with a recent infection cannot be used.
"Other research has shown that in the rare cases where a blood sample comes out positive, transmission of coronavirus through blood transfusion does not occur. Therefore, it seems safe to receive blood from a transfusion and continue to be a blood donor, without fear of transmission of Covid-19, as long as current precautions are observed," said researcher Dr. Sonia Bakour of the University of California-San Francisco.
Equally reassuring are the findings on blood from similar studies in France, China, South Korea and Pakistan.
