Abstract:
The presence of viral nucleic material in the circulation poses a theoretical risk of
transmission through transfusion. However, little is known about the possibility of
the actual transmission through transfusion or transplantation of blood products. A
PROSPERO registered systematic review pooled evidence from PubMed/MEDLINE,
Google Scholar and CINAHL. The search included studies on severe acute respiratory
syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission through human blood products.
In total 537 studies were extracted, and only eight articles (1.5%) were eligible for the
final analysis. A total of 14 patients received blood products from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus-positive donors, and six (42.9%) tested negative for COVID-19
RT-PCR for up to 14 days post-transfusion/transplantation. There were no docu mented clinical details on the COVID-19 test for eight (57.1%) blood products recipi ents. Of the eight patients, none of them developed any COVID-19-related symptoms.
In conclusion, there is limited evidence of transfusion transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via
human blood products. Consolidation of further evidence, as it emerges, is warranted.
