Key WORds

Pathogen – a germ (like a virus or bacteria) that can cause disease.
Screening – testing blood to check for potential infections before donation.
Policy- A policy is a clear rule or guideline for how to act or make decisions in certain situations.

Theme 3: Safety

Can technology help us spot pathogens in blood more easily?

 In theme III, our focus is applying new and current techniques to understand and reduce infection risks in blood donation and transfusion.

Our work involves surveillance, testing of samples, and policy recommendations to enhance blood safety in England:

1. Investigate how likely new pathogens carried by insects (e.g. ticks and mosquitoes) are to appear in England, based on testing a snapshot of blood donor samples through the hyperlink: CODONET study. We are also investigating possible risk factors for infection in England’s blood donors, for example a person’s travel history.
2. Test new genomics-based technology for detecting bacteria (such as the sequencing approach developed in hyperlink: theme I). We’ll check it’s performance compared with the current culture-based method used at NHSBT.
3. Investigate the effects of new, more inclusive donor selection policies in England, by monitoring infection in donors. This helps NHSBT ensure that blood donation remains safe and fair. You can read more about the introduction of fairer blood donation here
4. Improve the detection of hepatitis B in donated blood, including occult hepatitis B, which can be very difficult to identify. This work has already led to the introduction of advanced screening methods in the NHS to detect hepatitis B in the blood.

Theme III focuses on keeping blood safe. We study how viruses, bacteria, and donor-related behaviours affect blood safety, using real donor data and laboratory testing, helping to shape better policies for protecting patients who receive transfusions

FAQ section:

What kind of insect-borne pathogens do we investigate?

We study viruses that are spread by mosquitoes or ticks, such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya.

 Is there anything that patients should be concerned by?  

The UK has one of the safest blood transfusion services in the world, infections are extremely rare, but not impossible. NHS Blood and Transplant takes rigorous steps to reduce any risk, including careful screening of donors and thorough testing of every donation for infections (read more here).

 However, there is no room for complacency, and our researchers are also working on outbreak preparedness, improving how we detect and respond to new infections. This includes running a ‘fire drill’ to test how we would keep blood safe in the event of a new pandemic (read more here, Rich’s Precept page)

How are you hoping to affect policy?

We aim to give evidence to help policymakers make blood donation safer. We also aim to ensure donation remains inclusive for donors, regardless of their ethnicity or sexuality

 If my blood donation isn’t used, what happens to it?

If your blood isn’t used, it is safely disposed of following strict health guidelines.

Meet theme 3

Heli Harvala, Theme lead Heli is a medically trained doctor, whose research focuses on viral infections spread through blood transfusions.

Shannah Secret, Senior Scientist Shannah runs the CODONET study and leads work to ensure the blood supply is safe in a pandemic scenario (read more here)

Vidushi Chugh, DPhil student Vidushi focuses on bacterial screening, with an overall aim to detect bacteria using new genomics-based methods.

Jaid Debrah, DPhil Student aid investigates the safety of England’s blood supply following policy changes to make donation more inclusive.

Michael Fu, DPhil Student Michael specializes in new methods to detect hepatitis B in blood samples. Michael is also studying for a degree in Medicine.

Piya Rajendra, DPhil Student Piya is investigating the spread of emerging insect-borne viruses and risk factors for these viruses in blood donors.