WHO/BS/2019.2377 Collaborative Study for 1st WHO Repository of Red Blood Cell Transfusion-Relevant Bacterial Reference Strains

Overview

Transmission of bacteria by blood products is still one of the major threats in the transfusion field nowadays. Strategies and methods to cope with this risk had been implemented or are under development. This implies also the use of appropriate bacterial strains that provide reliable test results in combination with the respective blood components.

So far, the WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization (ECBS) has adopted 4 bacterial strains as part of the 1st WHO International Reference Repository of Platelet Transfusion Relevant Bacterial Reference Strains in 2010. In 2015, the repository was expanded by 10 additional strains. Two international collaborative studies were carried out with PaulEhrlich-Institut as coordinator in cooperation with members of the ISBT Working Party Transfusion Transmitted Infectious Diseases (WP-TTID) Subgroup on Bacteria to prove their suitability. However, due to the different storage conditions of platelets compared to red blood cells (RBC), the majority of the already existing reference strains are not suitable for RBC. Therefore, the current repository of transfusion-relevant reference strains is extended by strains specifically selected for RBC.