TRALI Testing
Transfusion-Related Acute Lung Injury (TRALI) is a rare and life-threatening condition that can affect recipients of donated platelets and plasma.
Medical studies found that TRALI could result when the antibodies responsible for TRALI are present in donated plasma, including the plasma that comes with platelets, from female donors who had been pregnant. Antibodies for TRALI pose no risk to the donor, only to the recipient.
In about 2009, many donation centers in the U.S. and U.K. started giving a screening test for TRALI antibodies to female platelet and plasma donors who had ever been pregnant, before they would be considered eligible to donate platelets or plasma. They'd repeat the test after any subsequent pregnancy.
TRALI is not an issue for blood, platelet, and plasma from male donors, or from female donors who have never been pregnant. And it's not an issue for blood donations from female donors.