[Fatal septic shock and rhabdomyolysis following transfusion of platelet concentrates contaminated with Streptococcus pneumoniae]

Abstract

We report on a 58-year-old male diagnosed as having primary myelofibrosis with thrombocytopenia, who died of fatal septic shock and rhabdomyolysis after platelet concentrates (PCs) transfusion. The initial diagnosis of primary myelofibrosis was established by splenomegaly, leukoerythroblastosis and bone marrow fibrosis. PCs were transfused because of thrombocytopenia with marked bleeding tendency. Soon after the PCs transfusion in March 2000, he had attacks of chest pain, back pain and myalgia, then went into shock and died of unknown causes. PCs were suspected as being the cause of death, because Streptococcus pneumoniae was found in the culture of PCs in the WBC-reduction in-line filter and fresh frozen plasma from the same donor preserved in the Japan Red Cross Center. Rhabdomyolysis, neutrophil infiltration and phagocytosed bacteria were found from the autopsy materials, which were identified by DNA analysis as the same species found in the PCs. PCs are kept at room temperature because platelet function is lost in the cold. When PCs are contaminated with bacteria, marked multiplication induces fatal bacteremia. This is a rare report in Japan of fatal septic shock caused by PCs with bacterial contamination. We must pay strict attention to bacterial contamination in blood components.