Transfusion medicine

A man who was infected with HIV at birth 21 years ago due to a blood transfusion from the Red Crescent has broken his silence more than two decades later, saying he does not wish to stay in a country in which he has been alienated.

A court in Istanbul has ruled Istanbul University to pay compensation to a girl whose mother died after she received wrong blood transfusion during a caesarean section surgery at the university's Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty Hospital in 2013. 

Hospitals in Greece, as well as elsewhere in the European Union, are suffering from a blood shortage due to the harsh weather and a flu epidemic, according to Haris Matsouka, the president of the National Center for Blood Donation (EKEA), who made an appeal for volunteers to give blood.

Patients who depend on frequent blood transfusions are getting restricted doses because of shortages at Greece's blood banks, the Association of Cooley's Anemia Sufferers has warned.

Greek nursing unions are calling for a state health body to withdraw a video promoting blood donation, saying it presents nurses as adult film actresses.

The advert uses the slogan "Now you too can be a hero" and shows nurses with red high heels, miniskirts and visible cleavage drooling over a doctor who has just revived a patient. It ends with a man saving lives by donating blood.

The Turkish Council of State has rescinded a local court judgement of 350,000 Turkish Liras in non-pecuniary costs paid to a family after one of its members died of HIV, which he contracted after receiving a blood transfusion from the Turkish Red Crescent.

Platelet Rich Plasma is a non-surgical procedure unde whish the PRP is taken from the patient’s own blood and then re-injected into other areas. The procedure is used for anti-ageing in India, however Greek doctors are studying whether PRP can also be helpful in repairing damaged heart tissue, reports the World Journal of Cardiology.

Voluntary blood donation has increased in Greece during the last two years of the crisis. Head of the country’s blood donation center Haris Matsoukas said that 51% of donations are from volunteers and 41% are from friends or family of patients with another 2% from members of the armed forces and 5% from the Swiss Red Cross.

Sweden has a brilliant system for blood donors. A “Thank you” text for your contribution to the country’s blood supply will be sent to your mobile phone once you successfully onate it. A recent initiative to combat blood shortages has led the country to promoting the caring gesture through social media.

U.S. health regulators will recommend that gay men be allowed to donate blood one year after their last sexual contact, easing a ban that has been in place since 1983.