Introduction

Most would agree that today's transfusions are really safe from potential infectious disease transmission. There are still a few situations that worry blood bankers, like the risk of bacterial contamination of platelets (despite our best efforts) and emerging infections like Zika virus. One potential solution to these issues is called "pathogen inactivation" (also called pathogen reduction by many). Dr. McCullough tells us all about it! (Note: This is an updated version that eliminates the 15 second gap left in the first version at 45 minutes or so)