“We want to make blood donors, givers of meaning,” explains Pascal Morel, Director of Research and Development at EFS. Indeed, blood donation can sometimes be seen as a gesture of public health, more than an act of personal generosity.
One Gift for Many Healings
“Therapeutic donation is the classic donation you make when you donate whole blood,” says Pascal Morel. This type of donation contains all the components of blood. What happens next for this direct debit? All components are separated by apheresis. This process isolates red blood cells, plasma, white blood cells and platelets.
All of these different products have different uses. “For example, red blood cells or red blood cells, will be used for the direct transfusion of injured people, mostly” he describes. Red blood cell donations are also used for anemic people or patients with blood production problems.
Plasma and platelet donations are just as important
Unlike a “classic” blood donation, them plasma or platelet donations, only take the desired product. That is to say that the other components such as red blood cells and platelets in the case of a plasma donation, are returned to the donor after passing through a separator.
Plasma donation is used for transfusion as a coagulation factor for major burn victims, for example. These proteins help immunocompromised patients. Plasma is also used in the manufacture of drugs for patients with rare diseases, by the French fractionation and biotechnology laboratory (LFB) in collaboration with the EFS. Plasma has the advantage of being able to be frozen and kept as it is for several months.
Every day, 500 platelet donations are also needed to care for many lives in France. To meet this request, it is possible to donate a brochure. “This type of donation makes it possible to collect 6 or 8 times more platelets than during a whole blood donation” explains Pascal Morel. He reminds us that the donation of platelets helps people with leukemia in particular. Or other blood diseases, undergoing heavy treatment.
Time of “rest” between the different types of donations
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What is the “non-therapeutic” gift?
For safety reasons, donations that involve an anomaly or a probable risk for the recipient are excluded from the transfusion chain. These donations represent only about ten donations, out of a total of 10,000 daily donations. In this case, Pascal Morel explains that “everything is done to enhance the gift”.
From this moment, the blood is directed to the “laboratory, teaching or research sector”.
Indeed, institutions can use the data from the analyzes of this blood. Recently, Santé Public France collaborated with the EFS to monitor the circulation of COVID-19, through blood bags. “This process has already been used to observe the seroprevalence of the Ebola virus, through donors,” says Pascal Morel.
“Currently, studies to monitor the seroprevalence of arbovirus infections. Or emerging viruses in France are underway, ”explains Pascal Morel.
Proof that blood donation, although it does not directly help a patient, can also contribute to advancing science as well.
As a reminder, every day, whatever the season, 10,000 blood donations are needed. “Stocks often run out at the end of the summer,” recalls Pascal Morel. This is why it is important to give sound healthy, if one is healthy!
EPISODE TO LISTEN 🎧
Thomas’ story
#3
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Thomas has been a superhero in spite of himself since we discovered, when he was very young, that his blood could save many lives.
Available on https://t.co/RAzdBXq2i9the Blood Donation app and the platforms of #podcast. pic.twitter.com/pqKGOrg2xm– French Blood Establishment (@EFS_dondesang) June 3, 2022
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