Sterility monitoring of cat stored donor blood

Abstract

Abstract. Contamination of donor blood is a permanent risk factor for blood transfusion. Using of non-sterile blood products can leads to severe complications and high health risks for recipient animals. Sterility research of canned blood, its components, canned bone marrow and blood transfusion products is required to detect possible contamination of aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms. Factors of donor blood bacterial contamination may be blood collection systems, non-compliance of aseptic rules during blood collection, tightness violation of container, and others. As closed blood collection systems are not always available to veterinary practitioners, semi-closed systems or open (direct) blood collection are an alternative, which are at high risk for bacterial contamination of donor blood when used carelessly. In our research, 12 canned cat donor blood samples were analyzed in total. Samples were stored for 30 days at +2-6 °C. The donor animals were clinically healthy 12 cats. Blood was collected from the jugular vein by semi-closed systems in polymeric containers with CPDA anticoagulant. The bacterial culture method is considered as the gold standard for assessing the presence of blood contamination in most blood transfusion centers. The tested blood samples were inoculated into thioglycolate and Sabouraud medium and incubated in a thermostat at 20-25 °C. The incubation period was 14 days. According to the results of bacteriological examination of donor blood samples after their storage – non-sterile samples were not detected. Thereby, semi-closed blood collection systems are reliable and allow to obtain donor blood samples without losing its sterility in long-term storage. Keywords: animals blood transfusion, cat donor blood, microbial contamination, donor blood sterility