[Fever during blood transfusion. A case of coincidence instead of causality]

A boy aged 2 years and 5 months showed agitation, shivering and fever with a temperature of 38.9 °C during a red blood cell transfusion. Examination of the assumed adverse transfusion reaction gave no indications of erythrocyte incompatibility, hemolysis or IgA incompatibility. No antibodies against HLA class I antigens or HPA antigens were found in the recipient's blood. Sterility testing of the blood product showed no growth, but in the blood cultures taken from the patient immediately after the blood transfusion, Enterobacter cloacae was detected which also could be found in blood cultures and nose and throat swabs taken 3 days before. Therefore, the fever during blood transfusion was not a case of causality but of coincidence. This case underlines the recommendation to examine blood cultures from the recipient in all suspected cases of adverse transfusion reaction.