Categories of transfusion-transmitted agents
| Agents causing transfusion-transmitted disease for which donors are routinely screened* |
| Hepatitis B virus (HBV; 1970 [surface antigen]; 1986-1987 [core antibody]) |
| Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; 1985 [antibody]; 2000 [nucleic acid]) |
| Hepatitis C virus (HCV; 1986-1987 [alanine aminotransferase]; 1990 [antibody]; 1999 [nucleic acid]) |
| Human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV; 1988 [antibody]) |
| West Nile virus (WNV; 2003 [nucleic acid]) |
| Bacteria (in platelets only; 2004†) |
| Trypanosoma cruzi (2007 [antibody]) |
| Cytomegalovirus (CMV)‡ |
| Agents that are transfusion transmissible, but have not caused any known disease when acquired through transfusion |
| Agents initially thought to cause hepatitis (GBV-C/HGV, SEN-V, TTV) |
| Human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8) |
| Agents causing transfusion-transmitted disease for which donors are not currently routinely screened |
| Hepatitis A virus (HAV) |
| Parvovirus B19 |
| Dengue fever virus (DFV) |
| Babesia sp§ |
| Plasmodium sp |
| Leishmania sp |
| Brucella sp |
| Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) prions |
| Other¶ |
| Agents causing transfusion-transmitted disease for which donors are routinely screened* |
| Hepatitis B virus (HBV; 1970 [surface antigen]; 1986-1987 [core antibody]) |
| Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; 1985 [antibody]; 2000 [nucleic acid]) |
| Hepatitis C virus (HCV; 1986-1987 [alanine aminotransferase]; 1990 [antibody]; 1999 [nucleic acid]) |
| Human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV; 1988 [antibody]) |
| West Nile virus (WNV; 2003 [nucleic acid]) |
| Bacteria (in platelets only; 2004†) |
| Trypanosoma cruzi (2007 [antibody]) |
| Cytomegalovirus (CMV)‡ |
| Agents that are transfusion transmissible, but have not caused any known disease when acquired through transfusion |
| Agents initially thought to cause hepatitis (GBV-C/HGV, SEN-V, TTV) |
| Human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8) |
| Agents causing transfusion-transmitted disease for which donors are not currently routinely screened |
| Hepatitis A virus (HAV) |
| Parvovirus B19 |
| Dengue fever virus (DFV) |
| Babesia sp§ |
| Plasmodium sp |
| Leishmania sp |
| Brucella sp |
| Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) prions |
| Other¶ |
The target of the screening assay (antibody, microbial antigen, or microbial nucleic acid) and the year of assay implementation are indicated in parentheses.
See text in the “TAS” subsection.
Prevention by detecting CMV antibody in donors or removing the mononuclear donor cells (in which CMV resides) by means of WBC reduction.
Risk of death from transfusion-transmitted babesiosis is increasing in the United States.20 Of 9 deaths reported to the FDA in 1997-2007, 8 occurred in 2005-2007.20 Thus, in 2005-2007, there were 8 deaths from transfusion-transmitted babesiosis (for which donors are not currently screened) compared to 10 deaths1 from TAS (for which screening of platelet components is imperfect; see text in the “TAS” subsection).
Sixty-eight potentially or known transfusion-transmitted agents have been identified by an AABB Task Force.8