Ensuring the safety of blood products: AABB takes worldwide view
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The blood bank industry's focus shifted from West Nile virus in 2003 to bacterial screening and automation in 2004. That was one of the key messages conveyed to delegates at the annual AABB meeting in October. The event, in Baltimore, Maryland, drew 6,774 attendees, the highest number since 1997, and hosted 519 exhibitors, representing 190 different companies. Safer blood transfusions, donor recruitment/retention programmes and emerging technologies were other significant themes at the conference, write Kerri Weinert, Carrie Cresenzi and Emily Rizza, of US consultancy Boston Biomedical Consultants (BBC)*.