BACKGROUND There is no consensus regarding the blood volume that could be safely donated by dogs, ranging from 11 to 25% of its total blood volume (TBV). No previous studies evaluated sedated donors. AIM To evaluate the hemodynamic effects of blood collection from sedated and non-sedated dogs and to understand if such effects were volume-dependent. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fifty three donation...

Blood donations in England and Wales are collected from healthy donors who do not acknowledge factors associated with an increased risk of bloodborne infections. All donations issued for transfusion since the early 1970s have been tested for hepatitis B surface antigen as a marker of transmissible hepatitis B virus. These measures have resulted in low rates of transmission by transfusion but ha...

An Invalid Test of the Iron Hypothesis To the Editor: Ascherio et al1 saw no association of blood donation with myocardial infarction or fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) in men and concluded that this is “strong evidence against the hypothesis that iron depletion reduces coronary risk.” This conclusion is not supported by their findings. Iron depletion was only achieved in a handful of men. A...

West Nile Virus (WNV) antibody development and persistence were investigated in blood donors who made WNV RNA-positive (viremic) donations in 2003. Plasma samples from the index donations and follow-up serum or plasma samples were tested for WNV immunoglobulin M (IgM), IgA, and IgG by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Antibody development was investigated with 154 samples collected from...

BACKGROUND Hypertension is one of the leading global risks for cardiovascular events worldwide. There is preliminary evidence that regular blood donation may be beneficial. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS Unselected blood donors were included in this observational study. Blood pressure (BP) was measured before and after blood donation, with participants donating between one and four occasions in a 1...

AIM This study examined whether the Theory of Planned Behavior adds significantly to the prediction of intention and actual blood donation of the general Israeli population. BACKGROUND In most developed countries and in Israel in particular there is a chronic shortage of blood for transfusions. This raises questions about methods of increasing blood donations. DESIGN This is a correlational...

BACKGROUND Babesia microti, a tickborne intraerythrocytic parasite that can be transmitted by means of blood transfusion, is responsible for the majority of cases of transfusion-transmitted babesiosis in the United States. However, no licensed test exists for screening for B. microti in donated blood. We assessed data from a large-scale, investigational product-release screening and donor follo...