DONOR SCREENING • Immigrants, refugees, or citizens coming from a

country in which malaria is considered endemic

Donor screening encompasses the medical history after departure from an area if they have been
requirements for the donor, the physical examination free from unexplained symptoms suggestive of
and serologic testing of the donor’s blood. malaria
• Those who had taken Soriatane
Minimum age is 17 yrs. old and has no upper age limit
as long as the donor meets the requirements. 12 MONTHS (1 YEAR)
• Application of a tattoo, ear or skin piercing or
1. Medical History - obtaining an accurate medical acupuncture
history of the donor is essential to ensure benefit to • Mucous membrane exposure to blood
the recipient. The medical history questions have • After dental surgery
been developed and revised as necessary by the • Receipt of clotting factor concentrates
AABB and FDA. The interview should be conducted • Nonsterile skin penetration with instruments or
in a secluded area of the blood center. equipment contaminated with blood or body
fluids other than the doctor’s own
Deferments for blood donation: • Residing in the household and/or having sexual
contact with an individual with symptomatic
PERMANENT DEFERRAL HBV or unspecified viral hepatitis or a
• History of viral hepatitis after 11th birthday confirmed positive test for HBsAg
• Confirmed positive test for HBsAg • Those who had received other vaccines such as
• Repeatedly reactive test for anti-HBc on more Hepatitis B immune globulin and rabies vaccine
than one occasion • Those who had traveled to an area endemic for
• Past or present clinical or laboratory evidence malaria
of infection with HCV, HTLV or HIV • After receipt of blood, components or human
• Donated the only unit of blood or component tissue
that resulted in the apparent transmission of • Had sexual contact w/ a prostitute or anyone
hepatitis, HIV or HTLV else who takes money or drugs for sex
• Those with cancer, leukemia and lymphoma • Prospective donors with a history of syphilis or
• Those with diseases of the blood such as gonorrhea or treatment for either or a reactive
hemophilia, von Willebrands disease, sickle cell screening test for syphilis
anemia, thalassemia, Kaposi’s sarcoma & • Donors who had been incarcerated for more
polycythemia than 72 consecutive hours from their last date
• A history of Babesiosis or Chaga’s disease of incarceration
• Has taken Tegison or Etretinate
drugs(teratogenic) 8 WEEKS
• Has received growth hormone from human • Previous blood donation
pituitary gland
• Had engaged in sex for money or drugs since 6 WEEKS
1977 • After termination of pregnancy

INDEFINITE DEFERRAL 4 WEEKS

• Donors who spent 6 months or more • Those who had received live attenuated viral
cumulatively in the UK from 1980 to 1996 and bacterial vaccines (e.g.German measles
• Donors who injected bovine insulin (Rubella) & chicken pox)
manufactured since 1980 from cattle in UK
(history of CJD-Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) 2 WEEKS
• Used needles to take drugs, steroids not • Receipt of live attenuated viral and bacterial
prescribed vaccines e.g.measles(Rubeola), mumps, polio(oral),
typhoid(oral), yellow fever
3 YEARS ***No deferral for receipt of toxoids, or
• Prospective donors who had a diagnosis of synthetic or killed viral, bacterial or rickettsial
malaria after becoming asymptomatic vaccines if donor is symptom free and afebrile
 - For autologous donation, the
3 DAYS (72 HOURS) hemoglobin/hematocrit level should be greater
• Symptomatic bronchial asthma than or equal to 11 g/dL and 33% respectively.
• Skin lesions
36 HOURS - donor’s arm should be inspected for skin
• Those who had taken aspirin or anything with lesions (e.g. multiple puncture marks)
aspirin in it - skin disorders that are not deferred include
poison ivy and other rashes.
48 HOURS
• After plasmapheresis 3. Donor Processing (serologic tests)
1. ABO/Rh
WEST NILE VIRUS DONOR DEFERRAL 2. Antibody screen
• a potential donor diagnosed with WNV infection 3. HBsAg
should be deferred until 14 days after the 4. Anti-HBc
condition is resolved and at least 28 days from 5. Anti-HCV and NAT
the onset of febrile illness or diagnosis of WNV, 6. Anti-HIV 1/2 and NAT
whichever date is later. 7. Anti-HTLV I/II
8. Serologic test for syphilis
SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME(SARS) 9. Malaria
• individuals who have had an acute case of SARS 10. WNV RNA
will be deferred from donating until 28 days
after becoming asymptomatic and after any Donor records must be retained by the blood collection
prescribed treatment is complete. facility as mandated by FDA and AABB. The minimum
retention time varies from 5 to 10 years to indefinite
2. Physical Examination retention.
• General appearance
- the donor center representative should Different types of blood donation:
observe the prospective donor for presence of 1. Allogeneic donation – most common type of blood
excessive anxiety, drug or alcohol influence, or donation; donor donates blood for another person.
nervousness. 2. Autologous donation – donor donates blood for
• Weight his/her own use.
- At least 110 lbs. (10.5 mL/kg of donor weight - autologous blood is safer than allogeneic blood
for whole blood collection inclusive of pilot since there is no risk of disease transmission,
tubes for testing) transfusion reactions or alloimmunization to WBCs,
• Temperature RBCs, platelets or plasma proteins.
- donor temperature must be less than or equal - Units are labeled differently than allogeneic units;
to 37.5oC or 99.5oF. they have a green label and tag w/c states, “For
- donors are prohibited from drinking coffee Autologous Use Only.”
or hot beverages while waiting to donate as this
may affect the temperature. Oral temp. lower The blood bag must be labeled appropriately with
than normal is not a cause for deferral. the following:
• Pulse 1. Patient’s full name
- pulse should be between 50-100 bpm. 2. Medical record number or ID number
• Blood pressure 3. Expiration date of the unit
- systolic blood pressure should be less than or 4. Name of the facility where the donor-patient
equal to 180mm Hg and diastolic less than or will be transfused.
equal to 100 mm Hg.
• Hemoglobin Four types of Autologous donation:
- hemoglobin level should be greater than or 1. Preoperative collection
equal to 12.5 g/dL and the hematocrit level - donor donates his/her own blood for future
greater than or equal to 38% for allogeneic use and this include patients undergoing
donation. orthopedic procedures, vascular surgery,
 cardiac or thoracic surgery and radial is collected and the remaining elements are
prostatectomy. returned to the donor.
- most centers uses an automated cell separator
device.

Types of Pheresis donation:

1. Plateletpheresis
- donor criteria is similar to whole blood
donation except that the interval between
2. Acute Normovolemic Hemodilution donations is at least 2 days, not to exceed
- involves removal of whole blood from a more than 2x a week or more than 24 times a
patient with infusions of crystalloid or colloid year.
before surgical blood loss. - donors who have ingested aspirin or aspirin-
containing medications are deferred.
- Platelet count must be above 150,000/uL.
2. Plasmapheresis
- at least 48 hours should elapse before the
subsequent donation, with a maximum of 2
donations in a 7-day period; serum or plasma
must be tested for total protein & serum
3. Intraoperative collection protein electrophoresis or quantitative
- involves collecting and reinfusing blood lost immunoglobulins. Results must be within
by a patient during surgery. normal limits.
3. Leukopheresis
- special agents are required such as
hydroxyethyl starch, corticosteroids or growth
factors(G-CSF).
4. Double RBC pheresis
- removal of two allogeneic or autologous RBC
units every 16 weeks by an automated method.
The specifications for these donors are based
4. Postoperative blood collection primarily on weight, height and hematocrit
- blood is collected from a drainage tube placed level. For male donors, weight must be at least
at the surgical site. It is recommended that no 130 lbs. and height 5’1”; for females, weight of
more than 1400 mL is reinfused. at least 150 lbs. and height 5’5”. The
hematocrit level for both sexes must be a
minimum of 40%.

3. Directed donation – the unit collected is directed

toward a specific patient (usually a family member
or friend).
- requirements are the same as in allogeneic
donation.
- the tag is a distinct color (e.g.yellow, salmon) to
differentiate it from autologous tags.
4. Pheresis donation – blood collected from the donor
is anticoagulated and pumped into a rotating bowl
or chamber. Components of blood are separated
out based on cellular density. The desired fraction