Having the blood units available is one thing; ensuring they are safe is another.

Patients who get a blood transfusion are expecting to get an infusion of life-saving fluid in their veins to help them recover from severe trauma or an operation.  Sometimes though, that life-giving fluid carries life-threatening infections.  Just how often does that happen?  Researchers at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana wanted to learn the answer to that question at the Tamale Teaching Hospital.  They sampled 80 units from the blood bank refrigerator and cultured them for bacterial infections.  More than seventeen percent were contaminated with bacteria.

For further information visit www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

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