This should not be a surprise to most of us, but it makes you wonder why they are not required to let the donor know this information before getting the transfusion?
In this case, an eight year old boy gets a blood platelet transfusion and ends up with life threatening allergies to fish and nuts! This is called a “passive transfer” of allergies and the donor’s food allergies were later confirmed by the blood bank. Apparently, a lot of platelets were given by that donor and that is where the antibodies are. The boy was not making platelets on his own and the allergies went away in a few months.
Even though passive transfer is said to be rare, I still think that the recipient of the blood should be aware of this prior to accepting the transfusion! I was told I could not be a blood donor/organ donor because of my Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an autoimmune thyroid condition. Would that apply to my Celiac Disease and Food Allergies as well?
Celiac Disease, Food Allergies, Autism, Gluten Intolerance 