Globalisation of Pathogen Safety Threats to the Blood Supply

Dear Colleagues,

The safety of the blood supply in the High-Income Countries (HIC) of the Western world has reached a sufficiently high level that, for the mainstream transfusion transmitted viruses, mathematical modelling rather than epidemiological observation is required to estimate the residual risk. This is the case for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), and Hepatitis B Virus (HBV). In Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC), these pathogens still pose a threat, as high-risk behaviours in the donor population, coupled with the use of insufficiently sensitive screening tests, result in a continued threat to the safety of transfused patients. There is a need to increase the population of safe blood donors, as well as to facilitate the use of more sensitive screening tests able to exclude infectious donations. In all geographies, the threat of emerging pathogens, facilitated by global travel patterns, the eradication of the natural environment and global climate change, has been increasing, as exemplified by the emergence of HIV and the variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease (vCJD) epidemics over the past decades. The blood supply has been challenged by these events, and the current paradigm of selecting and screening safe donors needs enhancement in facing them off. A crucial enhancement is pathogen Reduction Technologies (PRT) for eliminating a wide range of pathogens, current and emerging as a result of global pressures. These issues will form the basis of this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Albert Farrugia
Dr. Silvano Wendel
Guest Editors

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