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2.11 analyse and present information from secondary sources to report on progress in the production of artificial blood and use available evidence to propose reasons why such research is needed

analyse and present information from secondary sources to report on progress in the production of artificial blood and use available evidence to propose reasons why such research is needed

Background

Blood transfusions have been the subject of medical research for centuries. In the early 1900s, successful transfusions were carried out as an understanding of blood components were understood. Up until the HIV crisis in the 1980s, there was little interest in artificial blood as there did not seem a great need. With the transmission of the virus during transfusions, there was nothing to replace donor blood, so artificial blood became a priority for research. Sensitive screening tests have now been developed for potential infective organisms, such as HIV and hepatitis, making donor blood much safer. There are now available safe and effective blood substitutes for certain applications, although they are still not ready for widespread use. Better blood substitutes are still needed. There is a continuing shortage of donor blood to help the victims of emergencies, civil and international conflicts and natural disasters. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that something similar to the HIV crisis will not occur in the future.

An Internet search on artificial blood will provide links, which include the history, current research and uses of artificial blood substitutes in blood transfusions. Some sites you could start with are:

Artificial blood (external website) Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

Perflurochemicals (external website) Wikipedia

Why research on artificial blood is needed

Some advantages of artificial blood could include the following:

  • Pasteurisation could be used to remove all pathogens.
  • There would be no need for cross-matching and typing as the artificial blood contains no blood-group antigens. This saves time and allows on-the-spot transfusion.
  • Artificial blood can be stored for more than one year, compared with about one month for donor blood using standard methods.