National Statement for the Emergency Use of Clinical Plasma

The National Blood Authority recently released the National Statement for the Emergency Use of Clinical Plasma (National Plasma Statement).

The statement was developed by an expert working group to address the ongoing supply strain of group AB clinical plasma; before finalisation, consultation was sought from key professional clinical organisations and jurisdictions.

Using group A clinical plasma for emergency blood resuscitation is a safe option that provides clinical benefit and eases pressure on group AB donors and supplies. Clinical plasma includes fresh frozen plasma (FFP), extended-life plasma and cryoprecipitate.

Introduction of hepatitis A virus and parvovirus B19 testing as part of plasma quality assurance release testing

CSL Behring has engaged a laboratory to perform hepatitis A and parvovirus B19 nucleic acid testing (NAT) on plasma supplied by Lifeblood for plasma quality assurance release testing. This testing will commence shortly, however the exact date is still yet to be confirmed. The results will be made available to Lifeblood up to 10 days after the date of donation. Lifeblood will recall any blood component that has tested positive for either hepatitis A or parvovirus B19, will perform clinician notification if the component has been transfused, and will also notify the blood donor of the result.

Hepatitis A is rarely transfusion transmitted, with no reported cases in Australia. We expect the number of clinical donations that test positive to hepatitis A nationally to be about 1 per year.

Parvovirus B19 is a common community acquired respiratory infection and is rarely transfusion transmitted, noting that there have only been 3 cases reported in Australia. Lifeblood performed a parvovirus B19 seroprevalence study of 2,221 Australian blood donors in 2016 which demonstrated that nearly 60% of blood donors were immune. Parvovirus B19 infections occur in all seasons, with outbreaks both seasonal and cyclical. Overall, we expect about 1 clinical donation to test positive for parvovirus B19 nationally per week.

As part of the clinical education program, Professor Iain Gosbell, Medical Director Donor & Product Safety, will be providing a webinar discussing the introduction of 'Nucleic acid testing (NAT) for hepatitis A and parvovirus B19 – 2NAT' on donated blood products at Lifeblood, including what this means for you and your patients.  

There will be two sessions to choose from - click on the below preferred date and time to register:

Thursday 3 April 2-2.30pm (AEDT) 

OR

Wednesday 9 April 5pm–5.30pm (AEST) 

What do sugar, 3D printing and stem cells have in common?

They’re all key to growing blood in the lab.

Lifeblood researchers are harnessing the latest technology to explore the world of blood grown outside of the body.

You might be wondering why grow blood in a lab when there are already people donating it? There are a few reasons. Firstly, blood can be in short supply. Only about 3% of the eligible population in Australia donate blood, even though we estimate over half of all adults are eligible to donate. Secondly, some people have rare blood types beyond A, B or O and there might not always be donations available that are safe for them to receive. Lastly, people who’ve been transfused multiple times can develop an immune response to some of the blood types they’ve received. To avoid this, they need to receive blood donations that are an extremely close match to their own.

Growing blood in the lab could help all these people, plus has potential applications in remote areas and for our defence forces. Lifeblood Senior Research Fellow Dr Becky Griffiths is leading the research team developing blood in the lab. She explains, “The human body can produce around 2.4 million red blood cells per second! That’s heaps more than anyone can grow in a lab yet.”

Having figured out how to produce red blood cells in small quantities using stem cells as a starting material, Becky is now focusing on replicating the hyper-efficient red blood cell factories that are found in all of us. The overall goal is to reduce costs and scale up production of growing cells in the lab.

THANZ update on transition to Beriplex® AU

Beriplex® AU (Australian plasma) is replacing Beriplex® P/N (international plasma) from the end of March to early May 2025, with staggered start dates across Australia. The Thrombosis & Haemostasis society of Australia and New Zealand (THANZ) has provided the following update:

‘In the event that a facility has insufficient vials of one specific BERIPLEX product to make up a dose, the recommendation is BERIPLEX P/N and BERIPLEX AU should not be given as a single dose and should not be mixed in the same syringe. Although not recommended, in a critical emergency if a patient requires treatment with both products they should be administered sequentially and the intravenous line should be flushed between treatments. The batch numbers of the products given must be recorded to enable traceability in case of an adverse event.’

Lifeblood will be running down our inventory of Beriplex® P/N before switching to Beriplex® AU and have communicated with customers/laboratories the details of the transition, including to continue to place orders for Beriplex® P/N until we send notification of the transition in their region. 

New critical bleeding courses now live

The team at BloodSafe eLearning Australia is excited to announce the launch of two new critical bleeding courses, Pathophysiology and Recognising Critical Bleeding.

These courses are the second and third in a suite of six courses, building on knowledge for pathophysiology and the identification and response to critical bleeding. They're designed to support healthcare staff in improving patient outcomes through evidence-based best practice based on the Patient blood management guideline for adults with critical bleeding 2023.

Each course is interactive, case-based, and provides practical guidance on identifying and managing critical bleeding scenarios whilst understanding the changes in body functions through the stages of a critical bleed.

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