Blood Safety in the United States: Prevention, Detection, and Pathogen Reduction

The safety and integrity of the blood supply is of paramount importance for delivering optimal medical care. Additionally, blood safety is of utmost importance to the United States public. Pathogen testing of donated blood products has been adapted and developed with the goal of eliminating the risk of transfusion-transmitted infectious disease. Currently, blood safety interventions are focused on excluding persons at risk for transfusion-transmissible infections from donating blood and on detecting the presence of transfusion-transmissible agents in donated blood. These interventions are intended to be complementary and function to isolate, and ideally, eliminate, the risk of exposure to known pathogenic agents by transfused blood components. We provide an overview of the strategies and techniques utilized to ensure the safety of the blood supply in the U.S.