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CNN Live Saturday

U.S. Government Plans to Track Nation's Blood Supply

Aired August 25, 2001 - 12:13   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Well, for the first time the U.S. government is installing a day-to-day tracking system to monitor the nation's blood supply and to sound an alarm if and when shortages loom. And joining me from Washington now to talk about it is Marian Sullivan of the National Blood Date Resource Center.

I understand, Ms. Sullivan, this is a nonprofit operation, right?

MARIAN SULLIVAN, BLOOD DATA RESOURCE CENTER: Yes it is, Brian. We are a nonprofit, founded four years ago by the American Association of Blood Banks.

NELSON: So tell me now, why is there a need for this tracking system?

SULLIVAN: The new monitoring system announced by the Department of Health and Human Services this week will extend the existing monitoring effort to hospitals, the end users of blood product. And it will capture on a daily basis inventory and usage information, which has never been attempted before.

It will also allow hospitals to have a mechanism to report shortages and their potential -- the impact that they have had on patient care, such as delayed provision of blood for transfusion and cancellation of surgeries.

NELSON: But my point is, though, that -- is the nation's blood supply short right now? Is that the reason that this is being put into place?

SULLIVAN: Currently, the supply is in relatively -- is in relatively good shape for the summer months. Blood collections are up, blood distribution is also up. The National Blood Data Resource Center recently reported that over time, the margin between the blood collected in this country and blood transfused has shrunk. In fact, in the last decade, we lost about 36 percent of that margin, which was formerly called the safety cushion. So there has been concern building for some time.

NELSON: I have some figures here that U.S. institutions collected about 14 million units of blood and transfused about 12.5 million of units of blood, making that a very short supply. Some of that goes to other uses, but I understand that next month new regulations are going come into effect that will kick many people off of the donor rolls. Would you tell us and explain to us why that will happen and what impact that is going to have?

SULLIVAN: One of the many factors that has probably sparked the government's action at this time to more closely monitor the supply is the impending implementation of additional travel deferrals of donors with regard to their travel and residence history in Europe. This is to reduce the theoretical risk for the transmission of variant the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a very rare disease that is associated with mad cow disease in Europe.

NELSON: So, this will reduce the donor supply. Will that have a serious impact on the nation's blood supply because of it?

SULLIVAN: Well, there has been a broad range of estimates made. It is expected to affect the blood supply. We were interested in having a system in place before the implementations, before the new deferrals were implemented, so that any impact on patient care could be immediately measured, if any.

NELSON: All right. The U.S. government, again, tracking -- starting a new day-to-day tracking system of the blood supply, and we thank you for talking to us. Marian Sullivan of the National Blood Data Resource Center.

SULLIVAN: Thank you, Brian.

NELSON: Thank you very much.

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