Transfusion-associated infections: 50 years of relentless challenges and remarkable progress

摘要

The possibility of transfusion-transmitted infections has been a worry from the beginning of the modern era of blood banks. Beginning with the evidence that syphilis could be transmitted by blood transfusion and followed by increasing concerns about hepatitis, alarm peaked in the 1980s with the recognition of transfusion-associated AIDS and appreciation of the magnitude of transfusion transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV). In more recent years the story has been one of remarkable successes in reducing transmission of known viral agents and rapid responses to emerging infectious diseases that are documented to be transmitted by blood transfusion.