Topic Teaching: Emerging Infections in Transfusion Medicine (Epidemics)

Presented by:

Steven J. Drews, Ph.D., F.C.C.M., D(ABMM)
Clinical Microbiologist, Associate Director, Canadian Blood Services

Objectives:

1.    To provide examples in terms of breadth and depth of how CBS identifies and tracks new or re-emerging threats to the blood supply.
2.    Summarize key pathogens in infectious diseases matrix.
3.    Describe how CBS carries out pathogen surveillance.
4.    Expand on what is known about the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and risks to blood supply.

References:

1.    National Institutes of Health (US); Biological Sciences Curriculum Study. Bethesda (MD): National Institutes of Health (US); 2007. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK20370/
2.    Ludwig, A. et al. Can Commun Dis Rep 2019;45(4):90–7. https://doi.org/10.14745/ccdr.v45i04a03 
3.    JMP Bullard, AN Ahsanuddin, AM Perry, et al. The first case of locally acquired tick-borne Babesia microti infection in Canada. Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol 2014;25(6):e87-e89.
4.    Transfusion 2019 Oct;59(10):3171-3176. doi: 10.1111/trf.15470. Epub 2019 Aug 5.
5.    B. Isho et al., Sci. Immunol. 10.1126/sciimmunol.abe5511 (2020).

Note: The session is a self-approved group learning activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

To register for the LearnTransfusion series, send an email to learn.transfusion@blood.ca with  “Weekly Transfusion Medicine Seminars” in the subject line. Include your name and complete e-mail address in the body of the e-mail, and confirm that you would like to register for the LearnTransfusion series. You will then receive weekly email notifications of upcoming series events with details on how to join the webinars (e.g., call-in number and a link to register for the webinar).

The LearnTransfusion series is the seminar component of the Areas of Focused Competency (AFC)-Diploma Program in Transfusion Medicine. The series, organized by Canadian Blood Services is also open to all practitioners in the field of Transfusion Medicine. Through a series of regular webinars, trainees and practitioners are exposed to various scientific, technical and clinical aspects of transfusion medicine.