Safety of the blood supply

Three of four recipients of transfusion in the United States are patients u ndergoing surgery, and despite promising advances in the development of alt ernatives to allogeneic blood transfusion, it is likely that for years to c ome this patient population will remain dependent on blood donated by volun teers. The safety of the blood supply has been questioned seriously since i t became known that the human immunodeficiency virus could be transmitted b y transfusion. In response to this threat, enforcement of strict donor elig ibility criteria, removal of high risk donors from the donor pool, and test ing of each donation with a panel of viral markers were instituted which ha ve reduced the infectious risks of allogeneic blood transfusion dramaticall y during the last decade. The current safety of the blood supply is reviewe d and the ongoing efforts to improve the safety of transfusions in the futu re are summarized briefly.