An apparently healthy, 27-year-old Indian male donor passed all eligibility criteria tests and donated blood (triple bag) at a tertiary cancer hospital. After 20 days, the donor informed the blood bank that he had developed vomiting and jaundice 1 day postdonation, for which he had visited a physician and was investigated in a local laboratory, wherein the liver function tests were found to be elevated [Table 1].
The donor contacted our blood bank 20 days after donation and conveyed about an outbreak of similar symptoms in his residential community during the same period. Accordingly, we investigated him for hepatitis A and E virus in the microbiology laboratory of our hospital. Hepatitis E IgM antibody by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was found to be positive. The hepatitis A IgM antibody by chemiluminiscent microparticle immunoassay was negative. There was improvement in the liver profile as compared to prior reports [Table 2].
The donor's packed cells had already been issued during this interim period of 20 days as all mandatory TTI tests had been negative. The patient receiving the implicated packed cells was symptom free 35 days posttransfusion. Laboratory investigations could not be performed as he had already been discharged and was a resident of another state. The cryoprecipitate unit and factor VIII-deficient plasma were discarded immediately to prevent the possibility of HEV transmission.