Download HUMAN BLOOD HANDLING The resource person Your ACMO will

HUMAN BLOOD HANDLING
The resource person
Your ACMO will help you for risk analysis, prevention measures and the procedure to be followed in
case of AES (“accident exposant au sang”, “accidental blood exposure”)
Obtaining blood samples
EFS (Etablissement Français du Sang, French blood bank) can provide 'qualified' blood (blood that
has been checked for some viruses) or blood 'under qualification', testing. The latter will be reserved
for manipulations where 'fresh' blood is needed.
Blood may also be obtained from a hospital department when some characteristics are necessary, for
example linked to a pathology (infectious or not).
In some cases, samples may come from foreign countries in which health care structures are
precarious and where endemic diseases are very different from those in European countries.
What is usually called called 'self-collection' (i.e. collecting blood from any member of the lab for the
needs of the lab) is forbidden.
Risk Analysis
Many pathogenic agents can be present in human blood. Obviously, all of them may be transmitted to
humans.
Qualified blood has been tested negative for anti-HIV (1 and 2) or anti-HCV antibodies and HBs
antigen (hepatitis B). These tests do not concern the presence of other pathogens or a very recent
infection by HIV, HCV and HBV. So this blood represents a potential biological hazard.
While qualification is under process, blood has to be considered even more potentially dangerous; the
results given by the qualification only help saving precious time in case of AES.
A blood sample is not without risk because it comes from a hospital department. On the contrary, in
addition to the possible silent pathogens, there is also a risk to be contaminated by nosocomial strains
(multiresistant to antibiotics, for example).
For samples coming from abroad, you have to consider the sanitary situation in the country of origin.
In particular, when taking medical advice, remind the doctor that you work with foreign blood samples.
A possible contamination by an uncommon disease in our countries will then be diagnosed faster.
The actions involving the most risks are:
- transporting in a non-secured packing
- receiving and opening the parcel and samples
- manipulating (pipetting, mixing, centrifugation, culture…)
- washing dirty and reusable equipment.
Prevention measures
When you ask for blood with particular characteristics, you have to check all elements of risk analysis
the hospital department is aware of. It is then possible to sort the samples in order to make sure you
don’t obtain blood in which the presence of one or another pathogen is known or suspected.
Human blood has to be handled in a level 2 containment laboratory (European regulations), wearing a
lab coat and latex gloves, under a biosafety cabinet. It will be centrifuged in closed tubes or sealed
gondolas; tubes will be placed in or taken from the gondola only under the biosafety cabinet.
Be cautious when using cutting or sharp equipment (for instance when opening blood bags).
Waste will be sorted and treated as DASRI ('déchets d’activité de soin à risque infectieux', hazardous
waste with infectious risk).
Accidental blood exposure ('accident exposant au sang', AES)
In case of AES, the lab must have a procedure that you will follow IMMEDIATELY, and you will take
medical advice as well. It is important to know this procedure before starting to work with human
blood, rather than after an accident, when panicking…