Resumen

RIVERO JIMENEZ, René A. Emerging infectious diseases : transmission by blood transfusion. Rev Cubana Hematol Inmunol Hemoter [online]. 2006, vol.22, n.1. ISSN 0864-0289.

Some emerging and reemerging infectious diseases may be transmitted through blood transfusions. Many times, there are no serological screening assays for these infections and, when these tests are not made, the recipients' risks to receive contaminated products increase. That's why, the rest of the measures to guarantee the blood safety that include the use of voluntary habitual donors, the careful selection of the donor by physical examination and medical interview, health education and self-exclusion of those donors that due to their behavior could be transmitters, the maintenance of registries of rejected donors, and the epidemiological recommendations in case of epidemic , should be accomplished with extreme caution. The main emerging biological agents , such as the hepatitis G virus (HGV), blood transfusion-borne virus, human herpes virus type 8 (HHV-8), SEN-V, as well as the prions , the corona-virus causing the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the West Nile virus (WNV) that may represent potential risks for the blood safety in Cuba, are described

Palabras clave : Blood transfusion; emerging diseases; risk.