Emerging Infectious Diseases (Aug 2018)

Death from Transfusion-Transmitted Anaplasmosis, New York, USA, 2017

  • Ruchika Goel,
  • Lars F. Westblade,
  • Debra A. Kessler,
  • Maroun Sfeir,
  • Sally Slavinski,
  • Bryon Backenson,
  • Linda Gebhardt,
  • Kathleen Kane,
  • Jeffrey Laurence,
  • Douglas Scherr,
  • James Bussel,
  • J. Stephen Dumler,
  • Melissa M. Cushing

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2408.172048
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 8
pp. 1548 – 1550

Abstract

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We report a death from transfusion-transmitted anaplasmosis in a 78-year-old man. The patient died of septic shock 2 weeks after a perioperative transfusion with erythrocytes harboring Anaplasma phagocytophilum. The patient’s blood specimens were positive for A. phagocytophilum DNA beginning 7 days after transfusion; serologic testing remained negative until death.

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