Culture of blood products

[Juray]

We are a hospital system with 8 hospitals; the main facility has a microbiology department.  When blood product cultures are required due to febrile transfusion reactions, our community hospitals send several pigtails for culture.  This is not a great sample as it is not exactly what is in the bag, but transport of an open blood product is difficult and a potential biohazard.  Is there an easy/safe way to send the entire  "open" bag, or a product that could be used to create an acceptable sample?  Appreciate any ideas!

[Kathyang]

   We have the same thing. We put ours into the Bactec bottles and place the Bactec bottles into incubate in our Bactec.

[Dansket]

Do you have data, percentage of positive blood cultures of donor units implicated in a febrile reaction to blood transfusion?

[R1R2]

Always sent the bag by placing it in another zip lock type bag.   A lot of our bags came back to the Blood Bank with the administration set still connected so we would seal the tubing and send the bag.  

[AMcCord]

I would recommend sealing the bag in a zip lock, infusion set and all.

[BB1956]

Could you have the community hospital inoculate the Blood culture bottles used by your main Microbiology laboratory and transport those instead of the bags themselves.  When we wish to culture a blood bag we inoculate the blood culture bottle here at our facility as well and set it up on the Bacti Alert. 

[SMILLER]

You culture ALL febrile reactions?  I believe we only do an occasional platelet, cryo or plasma, and that only on the specific order by a pathologist.

Scott