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The Dangers of Blood Transfusions The Dangers Blood Transfusions Donated blood contains pathogens that can adversely affect the recipient following major stress such as surgery. Chief among these is the organism that causes Lyme disease, which is now reaching epidemic proportions worldwide. xcessive use of blood transfusions is a major cause of death that has generally been overlooked. Conservative study estimates that at least 25 per cent of them are unnecessary. Transfusions are given to 10 per cent of all patients entering hospitals, and are frequently given for the treatment of anaemia. However, blood transfusions may cause greater problems than they provide benefits. Adverse Effects of Transfusions In the United States there are about 500,000 heart bypass operations performed each year. Researchers at the University of Michigan studied 9,218 persons aged 65 or older who had coronary artery bypass surgery. They learned that patients who had received blood transfusions were five times more likely to die within 100 days of the surgery than patients who had not been transfused.’ More than 66 per cent of the men and 88 per cent of the women having this operation received blood transfusions. Women had a nine per cent death rate within 100 days of this operation, but only six per cent of men died in the same time interval. The primary cause of death in these bypass patients was infection at a site unrelated to the operative procedure. The odds of developing an infection were three times higher in these bypass patients who had received a blood transfusion compared with patients who had not been transfused during the surgery. The more units of blood transfused, the greater the risk of infection. If transfusions are dangerous, it is easy to understand why more women die than men because their smaller blood volume means that they receive proportionally more blood in the transfusion process. A coronary artery bypass operation is a huge stress for an elderly person. This major operation produces profound immuno-suppression in the body. This means that the body will not be able to do a good job fighting off infections and/or the spread of cancer cells for several months after this surgery. So, of even greater importance are the adverse effects of the transfusion itself. What are these transfusions doing to the body? Some undesirable effects of transfusion include the following... ¢ The infections seen are not at the site of the operation but are randomly scattered throughout the body, which suggests that the immune system is not capable of preventing serious infections. Something has injured the immune system. ¢ Blood transfusions place an enormous burden on the immune system in patients having surgery. ¢ Every individual's blood is unique and contains dozens of antigens capable of producing adverse responses in the blood recipient. These antigens can include inhaled antigens, poorly digested proteins that were © 2009 Website: www.mynaturalhealthteam.com JUNE — JULY 2009 NEXUS ¢ 19 Email: drjimhow@gmail.com www.nexusmagazine.com