Miller-Keystone Blood Center

Serving Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Northampton, Upper Bucks and Upper Montgomery (PA) and Warren (NJ) counties.

While all blood types are needed, our regional supply is especially in need of O-POSITIVE, O-NEGATIVE and A-POSITIVE donations, as well as platelet donations, at this time. Your Donation. Your Blood Center. Your Community.

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BLOOD CENTER IMPLEMENTS NEW TEST FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE

Testing for Chagas Disease Further Increases Safety of Blood Supply

Beginning Dec. 3, 2007, Miller-Keystone Blood Center will add a new test to screen the region’s blood supply for Chagas disease. This disease, common to Central and South America, is rare in the United States; however, recent growth in immigration from Latin American countries increases the potential risk factor for transmission.

According to D. Kip Kuttner, Medical Director, Miller-Keystone Blood Center, “Chagas disease is an infection caused by a blood parasite [Trypanosoma cruzi]. Transmission occurs through insect bites, blood transfusions, organ transplants and via infected pregnant women to children in utero. Chagas' disease can be treated successfully if detected soon after the infection occurs, but there is no cure once the disease has entered the chronic stage.”

Kuttner explains that there are several signs and symptoms of Chagas disease. Some people become infected and never develop symptoms. For those who do, Chagas disease has three stages, each with different symptoms:

  • Acute infection – some cases exhibit symptoms soon after infection. The most recognized acute symptom is swelling of the eye on one side of the face, usually at the bite wound or where feces were rubbed into the eye. Other symptoms are tiredness, fever, enlarged liver or spleen, swollen lymph glands, and sometimes a rash, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and vomiting. Infants and very young children can show a very often-fatal swelling of the brain.

  • Indeterminate stage - during the indeterminate stage, often about eight to ten weeks after infection, infected persons show no symptoms.

  • Chronic infection - some people develop serious, irreversible damage to the heart or intestinal tract that appears ten to twenty years after infection. Heart-related problems include an enlarged heart, altered heart rate or rhythm, heart failure, or cardiac arrest. Enlargement of parts of the digestive tract can result in severe constipation or problems with swallowing.

“There is no vaccine or drug to prevent Chagas disease,” he adds. “Medicine given during the acute stage of infection is usually effective. Once the disease has progressed to the later (chronic) stages, there is no known effective cure.”

Approximately 11 laboratory tests are currently performed on every unit of donated blood, and all donations are screened for hepatitis, HIV, HTLV and West Nile Virus. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new test for Chagas disease in December 2006.

“The addition of this new test offers an important new safety measure to protect blood recipients against a potentially very serious, though uncommon, infection,” Kuttner concludes. “The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a sensitive and specific screening test that enables the Blood Center to examine blood for Chagas. Any blood products that test positive for the disease will be destroyed, and individuals who have tested positive for Chagas will no longer be accepted for blood donation.”

Kuttner also stresses that while individuals who test positive for Chagas disease will no longer be eligible to donate, there is absolutely no chance of contracting Chagas disease by donating blood. 

“All eligible individuals are encouraged to donate blood at least two times per year, to ensure that blood products are available to treat premature infants, accident/trauma victims, surgical patients, burn victims, and individuals undergoing chemotherapy for cancer,” he says. “However, it is important to remember that blood cannot be manufactured. It is only blood that is donated that can save lives.”

For more information on Miller-Keystone Blood Center’s test implementation for Chagas disease, contact D. Kip Kuttner, Medical Director, at 610-691-5850 or kkuttner@hcsc.org.  For more information about T. cruzi and Chagas’ disease, visit the CDC website - http://www.cdc.gov/chagas/

MKBC IMPLEMENTS NEW, STATE-OF-THE-ART LABORATORY EQUIPMENT

Abbott Prism System Improves Laboratory Safety and Efficiency

Every two seconds, someone needs blood; and over the past year, Miller-Keystone Blood Center collected, tested and distributed more than 159,000 life-saving blood products to our regional hospitals.

To ensure that it continues to meet the complex challenges of providing a safe, stable and constant blood supply in our community, Miller-Keystone Blood Center recently added the new Abbott Prism System into its Laboratory operations. This blood screening instrument consolidates many testing operations into a single, automated system, reducing the number of times a test sample is handled, improving operating safety and efficiency for the Blood Center.

“Before a blood donation can enter the blood supply, it is tested for evidence of exposure to viruses that might cause disease,” explains D. Kip Kuttner, Medical Director, Miller-Keystone Blood Center. “This screening process involves numerous assays, multiple test instruments and many manual steps. The Abbott Prism instrument consolidates much of this testing into a single system, reducing the risk of accidents, errors and tampering by automating the manual testing procedures and steps currently used to screen blood.”

Kuttner notes that the Abbott Prism instrument is a completely closed system; once samples are loaded into the instrument, the inner-workings of the analyzer take-over and process samples similar to how an assembly line operates.

“Samples are transported through each station of the instrument where data is recorded automatically as the instrument analyzes the sample for evidence of exposure to viruses. When the screening process is complete, the samples are removed,” he explains.

Kuttner adds that the implementation of the flexible and highly efficient Abbott Prism system provides the Blood Center with increased provides accuracy, precision, speed and automation. Numerous safety features built into the system help track and monitor each sample providing documentation and quality control for testing facilities. Additionally, the system’s testing methodology allows the system to better detect infectious agents or antibodies which may be present in a sample. It also allows the Blood Center to increase laboratory efficiency by reducing manual steps and checks, enabling the Center to reallocate workers and resources to more labor intensive procedures.

For more information on the Blood Center’s new Abbott Prism System, contact D. Kip Kuttner, Medical Director, at 610-691-5850 or kkuttner@hcsc.org. 

BLOOD CENTER ANNOUNCES ESTABLISHMENT OF ENDOWMENT FUND

Every day, Miller-Keystone Blood Center is charged with providing our area hospitals with over 450 units of life-saving blood products.

“Every two seconds, someone needs blood,” explains Sandra D. Thomas, Director of Development, noting that every day “someone’s child, parent, sibling, friend or neighbor requires a blood transfusion because of a serious accident or injury, because of a premature birth, or as part of treatment for cancer.”

To help ensure that Miller-Keystone continues to meet the complex challenges of providing a safe, stable and constant blood supply in our community, the Blood Center’s development department recently announced the establishment of an Endowment Fund.  All monies deposited in this fund are invested and continue to grow; the interest on this money is used for pressing service programs and technology needs.

To honor the many caring individuals contributing this endowment fund, Miller-Keystone recently unveiled a special commemorative “Enduring Tree of Life,” generously donated in memory of Donald Gibula by his wife, Mrs. Phyllis Gibula, in the main lobby of the Blood Center’s Bethlehem headquarters.

For more information on the “Enduring Tree of Life” unveiling, or to contribute to the Blood Center’s Endowment Fund, contact Thomas at 800-223-6667, ext. 292, or sthomas@hcsc.org.