Blood transfusions in high risk malaria zones could be made safer with new blood treatment technology
"In many countries in sub-Saharan Africa where malaria is endemic, a high proportion of the population carry the parasite but do not show any clinical symptoms. This is particularly problematic when it comes to donated blood transfusions as it puts the recipients at high risk of infection if no blood treatment procedure is provided," says Professor Jean-Pierre Allain, lead author from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. "Testing for parasites such as malaria is expensive and until now, there have been no technologies capable of treating whole blood, which is most commonly used in transfusions in sub-Saharan Africa. This is the first study to look at the potential of pathogen-reduction technology in a real-world treatment setting and finds that although the risk of malaria transmission is not completely eliminated, the risk is severely reduced." The study is published ahead of World Malaria Day. Every year, approximately 214 million people worldwide are i...