Introduction
Since blood is a biological product, it is a natural vehicle for transmission of infectious
agents, and until an artificial blood substitute is developed, the risk of transfusion-transmitted
infections will probably not be eliminated. Three agencies of the Department of Health
and Human Services–the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and
Drug Administration (FDA), and National Institutes of Health (NIH)–have collaborated
with partners in local and state public health departments, academia, industry, and
consumers to develop prevention strategies addressing emerging infectious disease
threats to public health, including the safety of the U.S. blood supply. Four critical
components of these prevention strategies are as follows: surveillance and response
capabilities; integration of laboratory science and epidemiology (i.e., “applied research”)
to optimize public health practice; prevention and control activities to enhance communication
of public health information; and a strengthening of local, state, and federal infrastructures
to support these activities.1
As highlighted by the Institute of Medicine, in its series of reports about the ongoing
threat to health posed by emerging infectious diseases, surveillance is the critical
lynchpin for the public health response to both known and unrecognized pathogenic
threats.2 Surveillance data can be used to monitor and track temporal and demographic trends
of disease, alert us to outbreaks or unexpected alterations in disease frequency or
affected populations, serve as a basis for subsequent epidemiologic and laboratory
investigations to describe the natural history of a disease or identify risk factors
for its occurrence, and evaluate intervention strategies.2,3
This paper will review programs of surveillance in the U.S. to detect established
and emerging infectious risks, with an emphasis on those that address blood safety.
In addition, recent examples or case studies that illustrate the responsiveness of
U.S. surveillance systems to blood safety issues will be presented.
