RBC Transfusions and Cytomegalovirus

[jga_socal]

This is for those of you who are or may become RBC transfusion dependent. This is especially important for you if you may get a stem cell transplant in the future.

Before you get ANY transfusions, make the doctor order a test to see if you are Cytomegalovirus (CMV) postive or negative! If you are CMV negative then insist that you only get CMV negative blood!

CMV is a member of the Herpes Viridae family. CMV is also called ‘human herpesvirus 5 (HHV-5)’. Between 50-80% of people carry this dormant virus. If you do not have it, you sure don’t want to get it from transfusions. Since CMV is a dormant virus most people do not know they have it. If you get a stem cell transplant, CMV can cause major problems.

If you are interested in reading about the problems CMV can create in an immunosuppressed person read this 2 page pdf: Controlling the Troll: Management of Cytomegalovirus Infection after Transplantation .

A CMV screening was not done for me, and I did not even know about this issue, until 2 weeks ago. By then I had already been transfused 35 pints of CMV-unscreened blood. Make sure you get CMV screened before you get any transfusions. Incredibly lucky for me, my recent CMV screening came in negative for Herpes 1,2 & 5. Now these may be viruses I dont have to worry about after transplant. There is always the chance the donor has one or more of these viruses, but there is nothing that can be done about that since I’m lucky to get a 10/10 donor anyway.

Thanx.

[marlene]

John too is CMV negative. His doc always ordered CMV Neg as well as LEUKOCYTE FILTERED/REDUCED and IRRADIATED blood products. We found out that they will give CMV pos blood if it’s been filtered because filtering removes the virus. We have since had his blood checked once he was transfusion free and he remains CMV neg.

So hopefully, your doc has ordered leukocyte filtered/reduced blood products for you also because there’s more than one virus out there.

I cannot believe they missed that for you!

[jga_socal]

Marlene,
Yes, I get the other blood treatments you mentioned except for the Leukocyte ‘filtered’. I just now did the research and found that a study shows that CMV filtered is just as effective as CMV negative blood. The bags of blood I’ve gotten only said leukocyte ‘reduced’. Now I will ask the doc about the possibility that i got CMV filtered blood without it being labeled as such.
I posted this topic because I dont know how prevalent it is for doctors to not order a CMV blood screen for new transfusion patients. Hopefully my case is rare and most everyone gets test. If treatment mistakes are made you can only hope that the ramifications are minor.

[covergirl]

I am transfusion dependent and my btx orders are always leukocyte-DEPLETED as well as CMV negative and irradiated. And yes, I do check the orders myself every time to ensure it is never forgotten.
–cheryl

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