A few questions for the Dopers, especially the lab-technicians.
(1) How much does it cost to screen blood for blood transfusion?
(2) Is each donation tested individually, or are samples of them mixed together and then tested?
Erg. It’s been 9 years since I worked in a clinical lab so I don’t know the current battery of tests (i.e. pathogens) or their cost, but the testing is pretty comprehensive and thus somewhat expensive. Each unit of blood is tested as an individual sample, however multiple individual samples are often batch-tested to save money on labor and instrument costs. The FDA requires highly detailed records of a unit of blood from the time it leaves the donors arm to the time the universe ends (not really, but blood bank records are kept long after a recipient may have died). If there is ever a question that a recipient may have contracted a disease from a unit of blood, the test results are there to help answer the question. This could be an issue if someone who receives a transfusion dies 20 years later from liver cancer: Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease that causes liver damage that can lead to later cancer.
As far as prepping an individual unit for transfusion, there are 6 initial tests performed (ABO, Rh, and a three tube panel looking for unexpected antibodies. The reagents are relatively inexpensive, but there’s a fair amount of tech time and skill involved in interpreting the tests and making sure they are 100% right, 100% of the time. If there is an unexpected antibody, then a 12 - 20 tube screen is performed to identify the antibody which gets expensive. Each unit of blood to be transfused is tested individually.
Oh, goody! Two bloodbank questions in one weekend!
The last time I checked, it costs Canadian Blood Services $350-450 to produce one unit of blood. This is all the direct and indirect costs. I’d also guess the price may be higher in the US as all blood in Canada (excluding Quebec) is produced by one source and so there is probably a discount from economies of scale. I know the US has the Red Cross, but AFAIK some hospitals choose to make their own units locally.
It may cost this much or more in labour to crossmatch a unit to a difficult-to-match patient. I’d guess that 90% of patients require minimal labour to crossmatch.
As for what is tested for, CBS’ website has this to say:
* Infectious Diseases: Syphilis, Hepatitis B and C, HIV 1 and 2 (the viruses that cause AIDS) and Human T-Cell lymphotropic virus HTLV-I and II (the viruses that can cause a rare form of leukemia in adults and chronic nervous system disease)
* West Nile Virus (WNV)
* Blood Groups and Antibody Screening: to determine ABO and Rh type, blood group antibodies
I’ve toured several Canadian Blood Services faciliites and they are very high volume labs with all kinds of equipment. It looks like it’d be pretty boring to work there though.