Blood Transfusion News and Research

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Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood or blood-based products from one person into the circulatory system of another. Blood transfusions can be life-saving in some situations, such as massive blood loss due to trauma, or can be used to replace blood lost during surgery.

Men with HIV combat stigma, stress with Mom's love

Despite fears of shame and stigma, most HIV-positive men choose to confide their health status to their mothers, according to a new University of Florida study. When deciding whether to tell, the men’s need for their mothers’ emotional and socioeconomic support outweighed those fears, researchers found.

8 May 2005

Researchers have successfully induced adult heart-muscle cells to divide and multiply

In the best documented effort to date, researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School have successfully induced adult heart-muscle cells to divide and multiply.

3 May 2005

Framework agreement creates safe blood for China

In an important step to help combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in China, The People's Republic of China's Ministry of Health signed a groundbreaking framework agreement with Washington, D.C.-based Safe Blood International Foundation (Safe Blood International), an organization dedicated to providing a safe blood supply for developing countries to help them stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases at the Ministry of Health in Beijing.

12 Apr 2005

$3.2 million for two shock-related studies

A Virginia Commonwealth University research group has been awarded $3.2 million in federal grants for two shock-related studies, one with battlefield implications and the other for emergency medicine.

21 Mar 2005

Research into how prions act in the brain could hold the key to defeating diseases

Scientists at the University of Southampton are continuing their pioneering research into diseases such as Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease (CJD) and related conditions caused by tiny particles known as prions, thanks to a £300,000 grant from the Medical Research Council.

1 Mar 2005

Likelihood of a large number of future cases of vCJD remains small

According to research published today in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, the team believe there will be around 70 future cases of vCJD arising from the consumption of BSE-infected beef. At most this could rise to a total of around 600 deaths, although the researchers feel this is unlikely.

12 Jan 2005

Researchers have found that a blood-reduction program in cardiac surgery results in a reduced need for transfusions

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical Center have found that a blood-reduction program in cardiac surgery is resulting in a reduced need for transfusions without compromising patients’ recoveries.

23 Nov 2004

Medmira ships 100,000 rapid HIV tests to China

MedMira has announced that it has shipped 100,000 Rapid HIV Tests to one of its distributors in the People's Republic of China.

4 Nov 2004

Mad cow disease prions can be removed from blood

New research results released today confirm that infectious variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) prions that cause the human form of "mad cow disease" can be removed from blood.

From Pall Corporation 3 Nov 2004

Discovery of new method for visual impairment treatment

The patients suffering from visual impairment can be helped if a healthy donor’s cerebrospinal fluid is introduced to the parent’s vertebral canal – this method is called liquortransfusion.

1 Nov 2004

New study of blood substitute for use in trauma cases

The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center launched a study Monday on an experimental blood substitute, PolyHeme, that will be given to critically injured and bleeding victims before they arrive at the hospital.

26 Oct 2004

Researchers investigate whether simian foamy virus can be transmitted through blood transfusion

Using an animal model, researchers demonstrated that simian foamy virus can be transmitted through blood from one non-human primate to another. Although this virus is not known to cause disease or health conditions in people or animals, this new research identifies an emerging issue related to the safety and adequacy of Canada's blood supply.

25 Oct 2004

Hepatitis C infection increases likelihood of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma significantly

Patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) are six times as likely to develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) than individuals that are virus free, according to research presented at the Third Annual Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting.

18 Oct 2004

Compound derived from fruit and vegetables could be used to improve the effects of an established cancer drug

The drug, mitomycin C (MMC), is a well-known anticancer treatment used mainly against solid tumours in the bladder and lower bowel. It is activated by enzymes naturally found in the human body, but its use is limited by severe side effects at higher doses.

5 Oct 2004

Receiving a blood transfusion is associated with a greater risk of death for patients with acute coronary syndromes

The use of invasive procedures for treatment of ischemic heart disease has more than tripled in the past 2 decades and is likely to increase in high-risk patients, according to background information in the article.

5 Oct 2004

Chiron grants a non-exclusive license to the German Red Cross

Chiron Corporation has announced that it has granted a non-exclusive license to the Blood Transfusion Centers of the German Red Cross (Blutspendediensten des Deutsche Rotes Kreuz, or DRK) for use of the company's HIV-1 and hepatitis C virus (HCV) technology for use in molecular probe "home brew" blood screening.

4 Oct 2004

Steps to minimise the risk of onward transmission of vCJD

Selected groups of patients are this week being notified about the results of a risk assessment exercise for blood plasma products.

22 Sep 2004

Neck surgeons brush up on West Nile virus

Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, being held September 19-22, 2004, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City, NY.

17 Sep 2004

Urgent measures need to be taken to protect the public from contaminated blood transfusions

In the Western Pacific Region, transmission of HIV/AIDS and other infections such as hepatitis B and C through blood transfusion remains a serious threat. It is particularly acute in areas where prevalence of these diseases is high and access to safe blood is limited.

16 Sep 2004

John Reid has announced further developments concerning variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

He told MPs in a written ministerial statement that an exercise has begun to notify some recipients of blood products about the results of a risk assessment exercise carried out by the Health Protection Agency.

10 Sep 2004