US biovigilance network to track donor-derived infections

David Manly

doi:10.1503/cmaj.090064

The United States has begun rolling out a “national biovigilance network” to track donor-derived infections transmitted during organ transplants and blood transfusions.

The web-based network will collect data on deaths and complications stemming from donated blood, organs and human tissue and subsequently notify hospitals about potential infections.

Jointly developed by a coalition that includes the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Network for Organ Sharing and the American Association of Blood Banks, the network is being piloted in several facilities this spring with an eye toward expansion into a national network later this year.

With a single donor's organs and tissues often reaching multiple recipients, a tracking system has become essential, says Dr. Matthew Kuehnert, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office of Blood, Organs and Other Tissue Safety. “This system would allow doctors to check on all the other transplants from that donor before the surgery proceeds. This can be used to observe if there have been any adverse effects from any transplant from that one donor. This will serve a dual function of both surveillance and intervention.”

A doctor examines a kidney. Image by: Photos.com

The system focuses on 4 elements: blood donor safety, blood recipient safety, prevention of adverse effects in organ and tissue transplants, and cellular therapy.

The network's main goal is to “effectively connect the eye, tissue and organ communities through communication of essential clinical information,” says Gloria Taylor, standards administrator and ethicist for the United Network for Organ Sharing, which over the past 3 years has been developing a separate Transplantation Transmission Sentinel Network for detecting, communicating, tracking and preventing transmission of infections from organ, tissue and cornea donors.

While developing the biovigilance system, organizers contacted other countries, including Canada, for assistance. “Canada has an excellent system, and we learned a lot from them,” says Kuehnert.

The increased precautions could cause a slowdown of organ transfers across the US–Canada border, potentially increasing patient wait times in Canada, according to a Health Canada official. In turn, that could prompt some desperate patients to accept higher risk organs than is recommended.