Blood Safety
To ensure maximum safety and effectiveness, the Community Blood Bank
carefully prepares and tests every unit of blood. Each unit must pass
14 tests before it is deemed safe for a recipient. Units with unacceptable
test results are promptly discarded and destroyed.
Blood Type
Blood is first tested to determine the donor's ABO group (A, B, O, or AB) and Rh type (positive or negative). This is critical to selecting compatible blood for patients in need; giving incompatible blood to a patient will most likely result in death.
Antibody Detection Test
All donors are tested to determine if their plasma contains any antibodies to various red blood cell antigens. Having antibodies to red blood cell antigens could also result in blood incompatibility.
Tests for Infectious Diseases
Screening for infectious diseases is one of the most important means of ensuring the safety of all blood products. The following tests are performed on each blood product before it is available for transfusion:
- HIV I & II
- Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis C
- Human T-Lymphotrophic Virus (HTLV) Type I and Type II
- Syphilis Antibody
- West Nile Virus
The testing process takes a minimum of 48 hours.
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