• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Health / Medicine / Problem blood bags not a concern in Iowa

Problem blood bags not a concern in Iowa

February 4, 2003 By admin

The president of the state’s largest blood collection agency says while they use the same blood bags that’re involved in a quarantine in the south, there have been no reports of tainted blood in Iowa. Federal officials are investigating Red Cross agencies in Georgia and Tennessee after a mysterious contaminant was found in blood bags. Sheri Vohs is the president of the Blood Center of Iowa, an independent agency which supplies blood to hospitals in 43 counties and uses the same bags as those Red Cross agencies. Vohs has contacted the manufacturer, and been told that since they’ve found nothing here, they should just follow routine procedures. Vohs says her agency does four visual inspections of blood that’s donated, in addition to the tests that’re run in a lab. Vohs says the Blood Center has been using the bags for a number of years. Vohs says the blood bags come in a sterile form, in an enclosed container, so the opportunity for tampering is “really, really limited.” The problems identified in the south have been in American Red Cross centers. The Red Cross serves just about 20 counties in Iowa, mostly rural areas. There are three independent blood centers in Iowa, so a majority of the blood distributed in Iowa does not come from Red Cross facilities. The Red Cross quarantined 70 percent of its blood supply in the Nashville region after white particles were found in the blood. That followed a similar discovery in Georgia.The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are testing the particles, which were not considered dangerous or infectious.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Health / Medicine Tagged With: Red Cross

Featured Stories

Exhibit features lesser known works of Grant Wood

Testing finds 21 new CWD cases in deer

It may become a crime in Iowa to use fake urine in workplace drug tests

February trending 18 degrees below average temperature

Iowa House Education Committee votes to end tenure at UI, ISU, UNI

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

New look and new format at girls’ state basketball

Youngstown State takes action against assistant football coach

Iowa’s Jack Nunge lost for the season

Key stretch begins for #9 Iowa

Drake’s Roman Penn lost for the season

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2021 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC