Blood Donation Flashcards
what is the age range of regular donors?
17-70
what is the age range of new donors?
17-66
who is more at risk to donate blood?
men who have sex with men, commercial sex workers and those who have received a transfusion since 1980
how can you test for adequate haemoglobin levels?
blood dropped into copper sulphate and should fall through within 15 seconds
what is the normal haemoglobin levels around?
130 g/l
what are the 3 different types of test to detect for contamination?
nucleic acid test, antigen assay and antibody assay
what infections are blood donations tested for?
syphillis, HIV, hepatitis
what infections are first time donors tested for?
HTLV
what are blood donations tested for if needed?
CMV, malaria, west nile virus
what is HTLV?
human T cell lymphotropic virus
what are the features of a nucleic acid test?
detects the DNA or RNA of the virus whilst replicating and has shortest window period
what are the features of an antigen assay?
becomes positive later in the infection
what are the features of an antibody assay?
positive after there is an immune response and has much longer window period
how is syphillis tested for?
tested for antibodies for treponema pallidum
how many tests are there for HIV? what are they?
one for HIV 1 and 2 and another for a NAT
how many tests for hepatitis B? what are they?
three, one for surface antigen detection, a HBV NAT, antibody test if NAT is positive
how many tests for hep C? what are they?
antibody test and a HCV NAT test
what type of hepatitis is responsible for chronic hepatitis?
hepatitis C
how many tests for hep E? what are they?
one which is a HEV NAT
what are the symptoms of HEV?
can be asymptomatic, mild hepatitis, can lead to liver failure in pregnant women who are immunosuppressed
what effect can the HTLV have?
it can cause T cell leukaemia or lymphoma and responsible for a range of chronic inflammatory syndromes
how many tests for the HTLV?
one, which is a test for antibodies to the virus
how is CMV tested for?
one test using CMV antibodies
what is CMV?
a member of the herpes group, can be asymptomatic but may have flu like symptoms
in what situation can CMV be life threatening?
to those immunosuppressed such as babies
what are the stages of blood processing?
apheresis or pooled, CMV test, irradiation, high titre antibodies, HLA or HPA matched
what blood component poses the most risk?
from platelets as they are stored at a higher temperature
what are the sources of contamination?
the skin, asymptomatic donors, contaminated blood bag, contaminated water bath, contamination during processing
how is contamination screened for?
NHSBT have introduced an automated blood culture system to detect bacterial contamination of platelets during shelf life
what are category 3 transfusion patients?
patients that are not transfused during this time and elective surgery is cancelled
what are category 2 transfusion patients?
transfused in amber conditions yet not red, such as cancer surgeries and those that are not life threatening
what are category 1 transfusion patients?
resuscitation, emergency situations and chronic anaemia
