Bacterial contamination of blood components is a persistent but often overlooked problem in transfusion medicine. Although public attention has focused on transfusion-transmitted viral infection, improved methods of screening through donor questioning and testing have greatly reduced the transmission of hepatitis viruses and retroviruses. Given the reduction of viral transmission via allogeneic...

The terahertz spectrum of human blood components and untreated swine whole blood between 0.2-1.4 THz (7-47 cm) were determined through the use of differential time-domain spectroscopy (D-TDS) techniques, with water being used as a reference. It was found that whilst significant differences between blood components and water were found at low frequencies (below 0.8 THz (27 cm)) for human blood p...

Blood for transfusion is a potential source of infection by a variety of known and unknown transmissible agents. Over the last 20 years, astounding reductions in the risk of viral infection via allogeneic blood have been achieved. As a result of this success, bacterial contamination of blood products has emerged as the greatest residual source of transfusion-transmitted disease. This paper summ...