• Process blood within 24 hours of collection; with the exception that plasma and serum on all patients must be stored within 2 hours of collection wherever possible.
• Screening for infectious disease agents is a major component of ensuring blood and plasma safety. This type of screening focuses on detection of infectious agents that may have eluded detection through routine donor screening processes.
• Blood and donors are screened for hepatitis, AIDS, malaria and other infectious diseases. Blood type is determined by which antibodies and antigens the person's blood produces. The most common blood type is O.

Market

• The blood bank technology market includes products and services that enable blood centers to collect, purify, and store blood components. These products include automatic and manual collection products, filters for removal of white blood cells from red blood cells, IT applications for blood centers/blood banks, post-collection component processing, and sterile solutions in collection bag sets.
• Due to a shortage of donors and strict deferral guidelines, the global blood market is driven by a constrained supply and episodic shortages of blood and blood components. There is also a continuing demand for increased safety in the world’s blood supply as well as a constantly growing demand for red blood cells and for platelets, plasma, stem cells and immune ocomponent cells.

• The American Red Cross has traditionally been the largest player in the US for supplying blood to hospitals, the largest end user of blood units. In the US, the American Red Cross has historically managed 45% of the country’s blood supply.

Report

• Worldwide more than 70 million units of blood are collected annually, the majority in the form of whole blood, but also by harvesting specific blood components. The availability of blood is essential for patients undergoing surgery, for cancer patients and for hemophiliacs.
• In developed countries, 100% of the 45 million donations made are routinely tested for transfusion-transmissible infections such as HIV, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, syphilis, and others.
• In developed countries, blood banks routinely take many steps to ensure the safety of their blood and blood products, including donor screening and deferral, proper collection and bar-coding of blood donations, laboratory screening, and proper storage and handling.