by Rachel B
A new problem is arising where patients receiving blood transfusions 29 days old or older are becoming twice as likely to contract a hospital-acquired infection than those receiving newer blood. The FDA regulations allow for blood to be stored up to 42 days before it must be discarded, which makes the situation interesting since this blood is perfectly within standards. A study was conducted with 422 patients in an intensive care unit from July 2003 to September 2006. Those who received the older blood developed blood stream infections, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, heart valve infections, sepsis and other infections. The blood they were given was not tainted, but over time the cells degraded and released biochemical substances called cytokines that lower the patient’s immune system.
I thought this article was interesting because we just learned about the circulatory system and how the blood delivers nutrients to the body. It’s a little scary that the blood would be weakening the body instead of assisting it. This also creates an interesting issue for the Red Cross since the blood usually gets used within 17 days, but this would really limit a lot of their blood supply and they are usually in need of donors as it is.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/health/29blood.html?em
