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The government on Monday released the country's first comprehensive guidelines for veterinary blood transfusion services, addressing a critical gap in emergency animal healthcare. The 'Guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures for Blood Transfusion and Blood Banks for Animals in India' establish a scientific framework for animal blood donation, storage and transfusion procedures that were previously conducted without national standards, an official statement said. Blood transfusion is recognized globally as essential for treating trauma, severe anemia, surgical blood loss, infectious diseases and bleeding disorders in animals. Most transfusions in India were performed in emergencies without standardised donor screening, blood typing or storage protocols. The new guidelines, issued by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, mandate blood typing and cross-matching to prevent adverse reactions, establish donor eligibility criteria including health and vaccination ...
The integrity of blood components and parameters do not get compromised, and blood can be transported safely by drones, particularly in far-flung areas and difficult terrains, an ICMR study has found. The feasibility study to evaluate the efficiency and sustainability of drone-based delivery of blood saw the drone travel around 36 km in eight minutes, while a van took around 55 minutes to cover the same distance. The study titled "Adopting drone technology for blood delivery: a feasibility study to evaluate its efficiency and sustainability" tried to determine how drone delivery impacts the quality and stability of blood components after transport, compared to traditional delivery methods. The study published in the Springer Nature journal said that in the future, drones could be an option to deliver other important and time-sensitive medical supplies, such as emergency drugs or pharmaceutical products as well. Blood and blood component transfusions may be lifesaving for patients i
Scientists in the UK have infused blood cells grown in a laboratory into people in the first such clinical trial in the world. If proven safe and effective, manufactured blood cells could in time revolutionise treatments for people with blood disorders such as sickle cell and rare blood types, the researchers said. It can be difficult to find enough well-matched donated blood for some people with these disorders, they said. The team, including researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK, said the blood cells were grown from stem cells from donors. The red cells were then transfused into healthy volunteers. This is the first time in the world that red blood cells that have been grown in a laboratory have been given to another person as part of a trial into blood transfusion, they said. "We hope our lab grown red blood cells will last longer than those that come from blood donors," said chief investigator Cedric Ghevaert, a professor at the University of Cambridge and NHS