Ensuring blood safety and supply: donor selection and testing for mosquito-borne infections

On June 26, during the ISBT Barcelona 2024 congress, we welcome you to our Donor Screening Symposium:

June 26, 2024

12:30h - 13:30h

Room 112

"Managing arboviruses in a blood bank from the South of Europe” - Dr. Sílvia Sauleda. Banc de Sang i Teixits Safety Laboratory

"Policies and Plasmodium: malaria and transfusion safety in the UK” - Dr. Claire Reynolds. NHS Blood and Transplant / UK Health Security Agency Epidemiology Unit

Chair: Dr. Sam Rose

Arboviruses and Plasmodium parasites, transmitted via mosquitoes, have recently led to locally acquired cases in non-endemic areas, in addition to cases acquired through travel from endemic areas. These pathogens pose a risk of transmission through blood transfusion. To maintain the safety and adequacy of the blood supply, risk mitigation relies on donor questionnaire, deferral, and testing.

This symposium will review changes in defining risk areas for arbovirus and Plasmodium acquisition, evolution of blood safety measures to address the transfusion risk, and impact on donor deferral and blood availability, based on the experiences of blood and tissue establishments in two European countries.

Are there any topics you would like to discuss with us? - Come and meet our Grifols Expert team any time during the congress at booth C.09

Silvia Sauleda is the head of the Transfusion Safety Laboratory at Blood and Tissue Bank of Catalonia. Spain. She has published more than 100 research papers on hepatitis C, hepatitis B, HIV and emerging infectious diseases. She is a member of the ISBT* Transfusion-Transmitted Diseases Working Party and, since 2017, coordinates the Transfusion-Transmitted Diseases Working Party of the Spanish Society of Blood Transfusion.

Claire Reynolds is a senior scientist in the joint NHS Blood and Transplant / UK Health Security Agency Epidemiology Unit. has run the surveillance system on infections in UK blood donors since 2007. This includes horizon scanning for new and emerging threats to the blood supply, in partnership with public health colleagues. These surveillance data are used for monitoring and informing blood safety policy in the UK.

Samuel Rose was Global Director of Medical Affairs for Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics and subsequently Grifols Diagnostic Solutions Inc. for a combined 11 years focused exclusively on molecular amplification infectious disease detection technologies.  Sam is author or co-author of 20 US patents on nucleic acid detection methods.