Clinics in laboratory medicine
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Review
Advances in pretransfusion infectious disease testing: ensuring the safety of transfusion therapy.
The public expects a zero-tolerance policy for the transmission of infectious agents by blood transfusion. Although unrealistic, the efforts to reach this goal have produced an extremely safe albeit costly blood supply [82]. ⋯ As new, exotic, potentially blood transmittable infectious agents evolve [83], new barriers will be erected to [figure: see text] interdict these agents. In the interim, the US blood supply is the safest in the world.