Topic teaching: Looking back to 2002 - The emergence of West Nile Virus as a threat to blood safety in Canada and Canadian Blood Services’ response to this “emerging” pathogen

Presented by

Dr. Heather Hume
Full Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Montreal
Department of Hematology/Oncology, CHU Sainte-Justine, Montreal

Learning objectives

1. To briefly review the statistics regarding transfusion-transmitted (TT) HCV and HIV in Canada prior to the onset of donor serologic screening and excerpts from the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada (the “Krever Commission”) conducted because of these TT diseases.
2. To review Canadian Blood Services’ response to the risk of TT-WNV (the first “post-Krever” emerging TT disease) prior to the onset of donor WNV NAT.

References

1. Vamvakas EC, Kleinman S, Hume H, Sher GD. The development of West Nile Virus safety policies by Canadian Blood Services: Guiding principles and a comparison between Canada and the United States. Transf Med Rev 2006; 20:97-109

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.

Registration

Closed

Appraisal

Closed

To be added to the distribution list 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 be added to the distribution list 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.,  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.