The impact of transfusion-transmissible viruses on blood product management in the United States

Blood products represent valuable medical assets and also serve as critical resources in public health emergency response. In the United States, such products – which may include red blood cells, platelets, and plasma – originate almost exclusively from voluntary donors and traverse a complex regulatory pipeline before being put to therapeutic use. Despite the clinical importance of blood, however, the U.S. lacks a clear protocol for handling blood products during emergencies, particularly with respect to bloodborne viral threats. This investigation parsed scientific literature, federal and non-governmental policies, news articles, Congressional records, and publicly available surveillance data in order to elucidate the model of blood product management in the U.S. and assess its efficacy in the event of a public health emergency. This approach demonstrated that current blood product management policies in the U.S. appear to be sufficiently effective on a day-to-day basis. However, they fail to address several notable challenges associated with public health emergencies: lack of coordination between emergency management agencies, screening of donors and donations, blood distribution, healthcare worker availability and endangerment, and the financial impact of therapeutic blood use. The study concludes with recommendations for improving the blood product management infrastructure in the U.S., thereby strengthening its overall emergency response capability