Abstract

RIVERO JIMENEZ, René A. Transfusion-transmitted viral infections. Rev Cubana Hematol Inmunol Hemoter [online]. 2006, vol.22, n.2, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-2996.

The measures to guarantee blood safety include the use of habitual voluntary donors, the careful selection of the donor by physical examination and the medical interview, the self-exclusion, the detection of serological markers of infections, the maintenance of digitalized registers distributed in a rejected donor network and, more recently, the introduction of assays for the detection of nucleic acids. In spite of the screening of the serological markers of blood-borne diseases, there are 4 potential reasons for which this transmission may still occur: the window period of infection, the existance of asymptomatic donors who are chronic carriers of a transmissible infection with negative serological results, the infections given by mutants or rare strains and the laboratory errors. In this review, the main viruses with potential danger for blood safety, as well as the historical results of the screening in donors and patients from risk groups in Cuba are described

Keywords : Transfusion; screening; transmissible diseases,; viral infections; HIV; HCV; HBV.