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THIS MULTIAUTHORED TEXTBOOK published in 2008 is devoted entirely to transfusion safety and transfusion-transmitted infections and their prevention. The book containing 28 chapters is organized into 3 sections. The first section describes the basic characteristics of various classes of infectious agents (eg, hepatitis viruses, retroviruses, herpes viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and prions). The second section covers donor selection and testing and covers the operational aspects of these subjects. The third section—entitled surveillance, risk, and regulation—covers a variety of operational and research topics under this general umbrella. This format provides an integration of basic information about various infectious agents with practical operational aspects related to donor interview screening, laboratory testing, and treatment/manipulation of the transfusable product. Theoretical principles about the discipline of transfusion microbiology (better known in North America as transfusion transmitted disease) are also thoroughly discussed.

The first section describing various transfusion-transmitted agents is similar in concept to chapters that are included in other transfusion medicine textbooks. All 9 chapters present good historical overviews of their subject matter; however, there is considerable variation in the presentation of newer information. Some chapters contain very few references beyond 2005. Although this may not be a problem for the general understanding of issues related to the presented agents, it does limit the value of these chapters for transfusion medicine experts who are already familiar with the field. For example, there is very limited discussion of West Nile Virus. Conversely, there are particularly interesting discussions of the biologic complexities involved in CMV transfusion-transmission (chapter 3) and risk mitigation strategies used for malaria in various countries (chapter 8).

The second section of the book has multiple chapters that discuss operational issues. In general these provide a good overview of the subject matter; however, the operational aspects are slanted toward procedures used in the United Kingdom. This is not surprising given that all 3 editors and approximately two thirds of the authors are from the United Kingdom. Chapter 13, which discusses nucleic acid testing (NAT) is strong on describing basic principles. The 3 additional NAT chapters that describe the approach to such testing in different countries each highlight a different specific aspect of NAT (in-house testing; effect on donor notification; quality assurance); although providing valuable background, these chapters do not contain information related to some of the recent changes in such testing.

The third section of the book contains a variety of chapters that discuss theoretical, operational, and research aspects of the field. In my opinion, 2 chapters in this latter section are particularly noteworthy; “Risk Management” (chapter 26) by Dr A Periera and “How to Assess Risk: Prospective Studies and Calculations” (chapter 25) by Dr K Soldan and K Davison.

A hidden gem in this book is to be found in the introduction, which contains a series of tables (developed originally for the UK Standing Advisory Committee on Transfusion Transmitted Infections) that provide a concise assessment framework or template for evaluating the risk of newly emerging agents and the potential benefits that might be achieved from various risk mitigation interventions.

One limitation that runs through many chapters is that some figures and tables are not referenced to a primary data source. For those who wish to use this book as a teaching tool, in some cases these figures and tables may oversimplify the subject matter and give the appearance of too much authoritativeness to schematic or modeled data.

In summary, this book should be a valuable resource for those wanting to get acquainted with transfusion microbiology. Clinicians who use transfusion and transfusion medicine specialists whose primary interest lies elsewhere will be provided with a good overview of many pertinent issues and a solid grounding of the historical knowledge in this field.