70% of Midstate Blood Supply Quarantined

February 3, 2003
By WARREN DUZAK, For The Tennessean and Associated Press

An unknown contaminant has forced the Red Cross to quarantine 70% of its blood supply and left Middle Tennessee dangerously low on red blood cells and plasma, Red Cross officials said last night.

Unless residents of Nashville and surrounding counties roll up their sleeves and donate new blood, the Midstate region could be out of blood by this time tomorrow.

''If there was ever a time when you considered giving blood, now is the time,'' said Dr. Brian R. Carlson, medical director for the American Red Cross's Tennessee Valley Blood Services Region.

The Tennessee Valley region of the Red Cross examined its blood after reports from the Southern Region, based in Atlanta, of white particles found in donated blood.

The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were testing the particles, which were not considered dangerous or infectious. Some Southern hospitals canceled surgeries, and the Red Cross shipped blood from other regions to bolster the supply.

The problem was ''likely with the bags'' and not with the blood itself, said Chris Hrouda, the Red Cross' chief executive officer for blood services in the Southern Region. Only blood in bags manufactured by Baxter International Inc. had been found to be contaminated.

A spokeswoman for Baxter said the particles were not related to the manufacturing of the bags. Baxter's test results could be ready today.

''Both our tests and those of the Red Cross have indicated the particulate matter not to be an infectious agent,'' spokeswoman Tanya Tyska said. ''It's biologic in nature, most likely blood-related.''

The Tennessee Valley Blood Services Region serves 84 counties in Tennessee and counties in southern Illinois, southwest Kentucky and two counties in eastern Missouri.

The 70 hospitals in Tennessee that receive TVR blood have been notified, and all have expressed ''general concern'' about going ahead with scheduled surgeries, Red Cross spokeswoman Patricia M. Smith said.

Paul Lindsley, public relations director at Saint Thomas Hospital, said that as of 9 last night the hospital was evaluating its inventory but wasn't canceling any surgeries.

''We're working out an import system where we'd have blood coming in from other cities sometime tomorrow,'' Lindsley said. ''We believe we're going to get the necessary blood coming in.''

Anne Neff, director of transfusion services at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said that the hospital didn't have many of the Baxter blood bags, so their supply was not affected.

''Our major concern is that the Red Cross is down 50% to 70%,'' she said. ''If they don't have anything to supply us with tomorrow or the next day, we could be in bad shape.''

With only 30% of the blood supply available, there must be a big push to regain the five-day supply the Red Cross likes to maintain, Smith said.

Smith added that the Red Cross here has already requested 400 units from regions where contamination is not an issue.

The Red Cross was notified Friday about possible problems, Smith said, and blood collected then began to show signs of the white material. Carlson said the contaminant did not appear until 24 to 48 hours after the blood was drawn.

''We began our investigation as soon as we knew that particulate matter was found in the blood bags used by the Southern Region,'' TVR Chief Executive Officer Patricia A. Callicoat said.

Smith said only about 10 of the 1,000 units of blood collected in the Baxter bags had signs of the contaminant, but as a precaution all have been quarantined.

To give

The Red Cross is seeking blood donations to help alleviate the shortage brought about by the quarantine. The Nashville center at 2201 Charlotte Ave. will be open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. today, and 7 a.m.- 7 p.m. tomorrow and Wednesday. To find a blood drive in your area, call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. To be eligible to give, donors must be healthy, at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and must not have given whole blood in the past 56 days.

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