blood transfusions

16 Stories

Day After Ballerina Dies at 29, Her Mom Also Dies

Elaine DePrince had previously lost 3 sons to AIDS after tainted blood transfusions

(Newser) - The family of Michaela DePrince, the war orphan turned trailblazing ballerina who died suddenly at age 29 Friday , is doubly grieving—because DePrince's mother, Elaine DePrince, died the very next day. The elder DePrince did not know about her daughter's death the day prior, a family spokesperson writes...

Coronavirus Fix Helped 'Critically Ill Patients' in China

New York's Mount Sinai Hospital leads the charge in America

(Newser) - A new study supports the notion that blood from recovered coronavirus patients can help others battle the disease, Fox News reports. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association , it found positive results among five "critically ill" patients in China who received an experimental plasma transfusion. Four of...

FDA: Beware of Young Blood Transfusions

They're 'potentially harmful,' and claims aren't proven

(Newser) - The FDA has come down hard on young blood transfusions, touted by startups in several states as an anti-aging "cure" that can improve strength, memory, and even reverse the effects of Alzheimer's. Infusions of blood plasma from young donors into older patients "should not be assumed to...

Startup Buys Young Blood, Injects It Into Older People

For $8K a pop

(Newser) - It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, but it's real: Ambrosia, a startup from entrepreneur Jesse Karmazin, pays for the blood of people under the age of 25, then sells anyone over age 35 a transfusion of the younger blood for $8,000—the only US company...

Startup Bets 'Young Blood,' Taken Literally, Fights Aging

Clinical trial underway, but you have to pay to play

(Newser) - If you'd like to fill your veins with the blood of young people, you need only drain your bank account of $8,000. That's right, young blood is now joining the ever-growing ranks of "cures" people are paying for to combat age-related diseases and even aging itself....

After New Mom's Death, Jehovah's Witnesses Take Heat
After New Mom's Death,
Jehovah's Witnesses Take Heat 
in case you missed it
Oct 29, 2016 3:49 PM CDT

After New Mom's Death, Jehovah's Witnesses Take Heat

Eloise Dupuis, 27, died of a hemorrhage after she refused blood transfusion

(Newser) - Jehovah's Witnesses are defending their ban on blood transfusions after the death of a new mom in Quebec this month. Family members of Eloise Dupuis, 27, say she was influenced to decline a potentially lifesaving blood transfusion after a bedside visit by a "hospital liaison committee" of Jehovah'...

FDA Wants All US Blood Donations Screened for Zika

One unit of donated blood in Florida has tested positive

(Newser) - The FDA is getting even more serious about stopping the spread of Zika, recommending Friday that all blood donations in the US be screened for the virus, USA Today reports. Previously, it had recommended screening donations only in areas where Zika was spreading—mostly Florida and Puerto Rico. According to...

Another Zika Worry: Donated Blood

Officials say 2 Brazilian patients contracted the virus from blood transfusions

(Newser) - First mosquitoes; then sex ; now blood transfusions. On Thursday, officials in Brazil announced two cases of patients receiving the rapidly spreading Zika virus through donated blood, Reuters reports. According to the Wall Street Journal , the first case was in March after a patient received a blood transfusion during a liver...

Scientists Find New Virus Passed Through Blood

Don't fret yet: HHpgV-1 might be good for you

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a new virus apparently transmitted through blood transfusions. Little else is known about human hepegivirus-1, or HHpgV-1, besides that it looks a bit like hepatitis C and the harmless and perhaps beneficial human pegivirus. "It is the first transfusion-associated virus that's been described in a...

After Blood Transfusion, Boy Allergic to Peanuts

And fish, in 'extremely rare' case

(Newser) - An 8-year-old boy in Canada never had any problems eating salmon or peanuts. Then, within just a few weeks of getting a blood transfusion as part of his treatment for brain cancer, he ate salmon and experienced a severe allergic reaction within 10 minutes. The same thing happened when he...

Did Armstrong Drug Use Give Him Cancer?
Did Armstrong Drug Use
Give Him Cancer?
opinion
Sep 3, 2012 3:48 PM CDT

Did Armstrong Drug Use Give Him Cancer?

Say it ain't so, Lance

(Newser) - So Lance Armstrong probably cheated to battle back from his cancer diagnosis in 1996—that only leveled the playing field with other cyclists. But what if steroid use gave him that cancer in the first place? "I don’t think any part of his public reputation would survive if...

Virus Tied to Fatigue, HIV May Be in Blood Supply

Feds unsure whether XMRV actually poses a threat, but probe ongoing

(Newser) - Public health officials are calmly but vigilantly pursuing a possible new threat to the nation’s blood supply linked to prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome. The virus, dubbed XMRV for the awful-sounding xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus, may be present in the blood of 4% of Americans, and was...

Swine Flu Shrinks Nation's Blood Supply

Donor pool dries up amid absenteeism at schools, offices

(Newser) - America's blood supply is suffering from the H1N1 pandemic. Blood centers nationwide are seeing a drop in donations as school and businesses cancel blood drives because of absenteeism; they're also having to dump blood already donated as an increasing number of donors report flu-like symptoms after giving. Centers say they...

Docs Alarmed after Mad Cow Linked to Plasma Transfusion

Risk of infection with fatal disease was previously said be very low

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered the first case of mad cow caused by tainted blood plasma, the Telegraph reports. The elderly British man, who died from other causes, received blood transfusions years before doctors imposed restrictions to halt the spread of the fatal disease. Scientists had previously insisted the 4,000 people...

Despite Danger, FDA Sanctioned Artificial Blood Studies

Product tripled heart attack risk in subjects

(Newser) - The Food and Drug Administration repeatedly approved experiments using artificial blood despite data showing the products to be dangerous, the Washington Post reports. Investigators from the National Institutes of Health found heart attack risk tripled and death increased by 30% for subjects in 16 studies testing five kinds of artificial...

Old Blood Is Bad Blood: Study
 Old Blood Is Bad Blood: Study 
Mar 20, 2008 6:08 AM CDT

Old Blood Is Bad Blood: Study

Heart patients whose transfusions sat around have worse survival rates

(Newser) - Donated blood may have a much shorter shelf life than previously thought, finds a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Transfusions using blood at least two weeks old increased heart-surgery patients' post-operative death risk by 30%, researchers discovered, though the current expiration date for blood is...

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