Coronavirus

Intensive care medicine

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak

Emergency medicine

Engineering

Betacoronavirus

Virology

Transfusion medicine

Telecommunications

Computer science

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Outbreak

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Immunology

Asymptomatic

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Internal medicine

Blood transfusion

Apheresis

Coronavirus Infections

Medicine

Transmission (telecommunications)

Pandemic

Disease

Platelet

Electrical engineering

Journal of Infection and Public Health

The recent outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been labelled as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Although person-to-person transmission of the etiologic agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been confirmed, it is not known whether COVID-19 may be transmitted by blood transfusion. Notwithstanding the urgent requirement of blood, it is critical to know whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be transmitted by blood transfusion because many individuals may be asymptomatic carriers and may donate blood. Several cases in which specific viral RNA could be detected in the serum from patients with COVID-19 have already been reported; these findings suggest that blood donation may be an unexplored route of transmission. However, the American Association of Blood Banks and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not recommended any specific SARS-CoV-2-related actions to be taken at blood collection centres at this time. In this report, we describe a case of a 21-year-old man with very severe aplastic anaemia who received apheresis platelet transfusion from an individual who was subsequently diagnosed with COVID-19. Our patient tested negative for COVID-19 and is awaiting allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

COVID-19 transmission and blood transfusion: A case report