The Role of the Laboratory and Transfusion Service in the Management of Ebola Virus Disease

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Scott A. Koepsell, University of Nebraska; Anne Winkler, Emory University; John Roback, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2017-07-01
• Publisher: Elsevier Inc.
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmrv.2016.11.002
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Transfusion Medicine Reviews
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 3
• Start Page: 149
• End Page: 153
• Grant/Funding Information: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
• Keywords: Clinical management; Laboratory testing; Convalescent plasma; Hematology; Transmission; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Blood; Infection; Nonhuman primates; Ebola virus disease; Science & Technology; Marburg; Risk factors; Hemorrhagic fever; United States
• Research Categories: Biology, Microbiology; Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Biology, Virology

Abstract

The Ebola outbreak that began in 2013 infected and killed record numbers of individuals and created unprecedented challenges, including containment and treatment of the virus in resource-strained West Africa as well as the repatriation and treatment for patients in the United States and Europe. Valuable lessons were learned, especially the important role that the laboratory and transfusion service plays in the treatment for patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD) by providing data for supportive care and fluid resuscitation as well as the generation of investigational therapies such as convalescent plasma (CP). To provide treatment support, laboratories had to evaluate and update procedures to ensure the safety of laboratory personnel. Because there is no licensed EVD-specific treatment, CP was used in more than 99 patients with only 1 possible severe adverse event reported. However, given the biologic variability inherent in CP as well as the small number of patient treated in a nonrandomized fashion, the efficacy of CP in the treatment of EVD remains unknown.