oa Bacterial contamination of platelet concentrate units: a study on 200 units

200 Platelet Concentrate (PC) bags were tested for bacterial growth on day 1 (3-5 hrs after blood collection) using segments from tubings. The same bags were retested on their expiry date (5th day) by culturing a specimen drawn from the bag by syringe.

The frequency ofpositive cultures on day 1 was not statistically significantly higher than on day 5 (p = 0.07).

This interesting finding is explained and its relation to febrile transfusion reaction (FTR) is discussed. The organisms isolated were most likely contaminants from the skin or air at the time of blood collection.