Transfusion-associated bacterial sepsis.

Serious bacterial complications from blood components — how do they occur?

“…In a review of SSCs, Wagner et al (1994) concluded that in red-cell transfusion about half of the reports had Yersinia enterocolitica as the causing agent. In our opinion the reason for this is three-fold: (1) contamination probably occurs via donor leucocytes harbouring living micro-organisms, phagocytosed already in vivo, which are released when the leucocytes disintegrate (Högman & Engstrand, 1996); (2) the bacteria can grow easily and well at 4 ЊC; (3) under the conditions of red-cell storage a potent endotoxin is formed.…”

“…The question whether simply removal of the buffy coat from red cells gives sufficient safety, or if more effective leucodepletion, such as using leucofiltration, should be used, is still open. In the review by Wagner et al (1994) Pseudomonas fluorescens came as number 2, then several Gram-negative rods, among them Serratia liquefaciens.…”

“…In platelet concentrates the distribution of species causing SSCs has been quite different, dominated by Gram-positive species, in particular staphylococci, followed by Serratia marcescens, green streptococci, Bacillus cereus and a number of different Gram-negative rods (Wagner et al, 1994). Y. enterocolitica very rarely causes SSCs from platelet concentrates.…”

Transfusion reaction due to Klebsiella pneumoniae‐contaminated red blood cells: a case report

“…Some enterobacteria are able to proliferate even at temperatures considered adequate for rbc storage (Arduino et al, 1989). Organisms involved in sepsis resulting from erythrocyte transfusions are particularly Yersinia enterocolitica (51·0%), Pseudomonas species (30·6%), Treponema pallidum (4·1%) and other species (14·3%) (Wagner et al, 1994). Most frequently isolated bacteria from bacterially contaminated platelet products associated sepsis is Propionibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus epidermidis (Schrezenmeier et al, 2007;Walther-Wenke et al, 2010).…”

“…In our case, like in most cases of sepsis from transfusion, the source of the contamination could not be identified. Potential sources include contamination of the phlebotomy site, donor bacteremia, contamination of blood containers or needles, and contamination of processing equipment (Wagner et al, 1994). It was shown that Klebsiella sp.…”