FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 347:1075-1078 October 3, 2002 Number 14 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text PDF PDA Full Text Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

Platelet transfusions carry a serious risk of bacterial sepsis. Platelets are stored at room temperature for no longer than 120 hours (five days), and a single bacterium of the type that typically contaminates platelets collected for transfusion can generate 10⁵ organisms in 27 to 108 hours at 22°C.¹ Estimates of the rate of bacterial contamination of platelet products range from 0.04 to 1.0 percent.² The predominant bacterial contaminants are part of the normal flora of the donor's skin, although some are apparently the result of occult bacteremia in the donor.^1,2,3

The estimated frequency of bacterial sepsis among recipients of platelet . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Case Reports

Donor

Patient 1

Patient 2

Methods

Results

Discussion

Source Information

From the Departments of Medicine (M.J., B.R.B., J.N.G.) and Pathology (J.F.), University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center; the Oklahoma Blood Institute (J.F., R.O.G., J.W.S.); and the Oklahoma State Department of Health (J.M.C., M.M.) — all in Oklahoma City.

Address reprint requests to Dr. George at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Hematology–Oncology Section, P.O. Box 26901, Oklahoma City, OK 73190, or at jim-george@ouhsc.edu.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Brecher, M. E., Hay, S. N. (2005). Bacterial Contamination of Blood Components. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 18: 195-204 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• (2002). Snakes, Salmonella, and Platelet Transfusions. JWatch Infect. Diseases 2002: 9-9 [Full Text]