Bacterial Contamination of Donor Blood and Blood Components from a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India

Abstract

Screening of blood donors for viral pathogens has greatly improved the safety of donated blood. However, transfusion associated bacterial sepsis, remains an important public health concern, which has received very little attention. Therefore this study was carried out to determine the prevalence of bacterial contamination in donor blood and blood products, to find the commonly contaminated blood product and to identify the microorganisms involved. The present study was conducted on 136 random blood samples received in the Department of Microbiology, GMC, Jammu for a period of 1 year i.e. April 2017-2018. Bacteria were identified using standard bacteriological and biochemical methods. The overall prevalence rate was 12.50% (Packed cells, 21.21%; Platelets, 10.41%; Whole blood 9.09%). The most commonly isolated bacteria were Klebsiella sp, Staph. aureus and CONS. Most of the contaminated samples had 3-7 days of storage time. Maximum number of contaminated samples was from Blood Bank, GMC, Jammu. This concludes that bacterial contamination of donor blood and blood components is common in our hospital setting. Active surveillance methods to improve the safety of transfusion, regular monitoring and educating the clinical staff can help in reducing the contamination of transfusion blood.