Pathogen reduction of blood bank components: a matter of swings and roundabouts

Abstract

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A preliminary word on plasma derivatives

Those of us who have a decades-long involvement in the field of haemotherapy can confirm that the improved safety in industrially manufactured plasma derivatives has been one of the most significant achievements1. Penetration of the blood supply by infectious agents transmissible by blood had severe consequences on those patients who depend on regular treatment with concentrates of the proteins they lacked, particularly people with haemophilia requiring coagulation factors and immunodeficiency patients treated with immunoglobulins. Equally tragically, occasional transmissions also occurred in other groups, including women given prophylaxis treatment with anti-Rh immunoglobulin manufactured from plasma contaminated with hepatitis C virus (HCV). [ … ]