BMJ 1994;309:958 (8 October)

Letters

Contamination of bone marrow transplants from peripheral blood

EDITOR, - We agree with Tessa L Holyoake and Ian M Franklin that transplants of peripheral blood stem cells may transform medical oncology, but their infective risks were not mentioned.1 Harvested bone marrow may contain bacteria,*RF 2-5* and grafts of peripheral blood stem cells may do too. In two cases recently, contaminated grafts were infused uneventfully when the patients received prophylaxis with antibiotics.

Peripheral blood stem cells were harvested with full aseptic precautions being taken. Duplicate samples were taken before and after cryopreservation and cultured directly and by broth enrichment for conventional and psychrophilic bacteria. Isolation of the same organism from both duplicate samples was considered to be significant. Since August 1993 we have monitored 59 harvests of peripheral blood stem cells from 31 patients. Contaiminants were isolated from 10 harvests from 10 patients (coagulase negative staphylococci (six cases), Bacillus spp (two), Staphylococcus aureus (one), and Pseudomonas putida (one)); none . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Bone marrow transplants from peripheral blood
T L Holyoake and I M Franklin
BMJ 1994 309: 4-5. [Extract] [Full Text]

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