Screening blood donations for hepatitis C virus by polymerase chain reaction

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The contamination of blood components by bacteria is an adverse event, which, although very uncommon, has an exceptionally high mortality rate. CASE REPORT: A patient suffering from terminal adenocarcinoma of the ovary received a red blood cell unit. During the transfusion, the patient developed fever. Cultures of both the patient's blood and the blood unit were done, and she was treated with antibiotics. Forty-eight and seventy-two hours after the transfusion, Candida parapsilosis grew in the blood cultures of the red blood cell bag and of the patient. The infection was controlled with amphotericin. The patient died from cancer progression. CONCLUSIONS We describe the first case of transfusion-associated sepsis caused by C. parapsilosis.