A suspected septic transfusion reaction associated with posttransfusion contamination of a platelet pool by vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium.

Microbiological and molecular investigations showed a relationship between VRE isolated from the patient before and after transfusion, and therefore it is postulated that a patient-to-PC retrograde contamination (from either blood or skin) occurred. As the CNST isolated from the PC pool was not isolated from patient samples, its implication in the transfusion event is unknown.