P-52 Effectiveness of diversion pouch and modified skin disinfectants in reducing bacterial contamination of platelet components at the National Blood Transfusion Services, Guyana

Methods: This is a single-site cross-sectional, comparative study that was carried out at the blood bank from July 2022 to August 2022. A total of 70 platelet concentrates were collected, 35 samples were from donors swabbed with isopropyl alcohol while 35 samples were from donors with a combination of iodine and isopropyl alcohol. Gram staining, culture, and subculture were done in Trypticase Soy Broth, blood agar and eosin methylene blue agar media, MacConkey agar, and Chocolate agar.

Results: Of the 70 samples tested, 7 (10%) samples had contamination. Of the 7 samples that were found contaminated with the presence of various bacterial species, 5 samples were found contaminated with Gram-negative bacilli, 1 sample was found contaminated with Gram-negative cocci, and 1 sample identified Gram-positive cocci. The occurrences of bacterial contamination of platelets were significantly lower when utilizing the combination of hand scrub, iodine, and isopropyl alcohol (1 in 35) in comparison to the usage of isopropyl alcohol alone (6 in 35) (p=0.05). The study also identified a significant reduction in bacterial contamination with the usage of a diversion pouch (10%) than the usage of collection baggage (85.7%) (p=0.05).

Conclusion: A diversion pouch blood collection system in combination with aseptic method of iodine, isopropyl alcohol, and a hand scrub is an efficacious method in reducing bacterial contamination in platelets during the collection of blood.