JPAC Joint United Kingdom (UK) Blood Transfusion and Tissue Transplantation Services Professional Advisory Committee
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Coronavirus Infection (COVID-19)

Includes

COVID-19 disease (due to infection with SARS-CoV-2 virus, previously known as Novel Coronavirus or 2019-nCoV).

1. Person with confirmed or suspected COVID-19
Obligatory

Must not donate if:
 

Less than 7 days since resolution of symptoms due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19.

Discretionary

Eyes – Accept. See Additional Information.


For all other tissues:
 

a) Confirmed symptomatic infection (COVID-19) – if more than 7 days have passed since resolution of symptoms, accept.
 

b) Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection following diagnostic test without clinical symptoms - if more than 7 days have passed since most recent confirmed diagnostic test, accept.


c) Suspected infection:

  • If testing was not performed, and if more than 7 days after resolution of symptoms, see Infection - Acute entry.
  • If testing was performed, and COVID-19 has been ruled out as a clinical diagnosis, see Infection - Acute entry.


d) For respiratory symptoms/failure not related to infection, or where COVID-19 was ruled out as a clinical diagnosis following testing, and if the underlying cause does not otherwise contradict donation, accept.


See Additional Information below.

See if Relevant

Coronavirus Vaccination
Infection - Acute
Contact with Infectious Diseases

Additional Information

Common coronaviruses cause colds and respiratory tract infections but are not considered a risk for tissue transplant recipients. Since 2002 there have been outbreaks in humans of new strains of coronavirus, associated with severe pulmonary infections and mortality rates of 10-35% e.g. SARS and MERS.


COVID-19 is an illness characterised by respiratory symptoms, including coughing and breathlessness, and fever. It is caused by infection with a newly identified Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Its full pathogenesis remains unknown but individuals with certain underlying chronic conditions, the elderly and immunocompromised individuals are at risk of more severe disease.


Some persons with SARS-CoV-2 infection may be asymptomatic. It is possible that they may have undergone testing for occupational health reasons (for example). 


Deceased tissue donors may have been subject to respiratory swab testing either on admission to hospital, or as organ donors. All organ donors are tested for SARS-CoV-2 on respiratory samples prior to donation. It is important to ascertain that, if the donor has been tested, the test was negative before proceeding with retrieval of tissues. 
 

There is no evidence at present that SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted by tissue/ cell transplantation and therefore these measures are considered to be precautionary. Based on expert opinion COVID-19 infection is not a contraindication for eye donation, where the decontamination process includes a suitable virus inactivation step.

Reason for Change

Delete outdated information in the definition section, and ‘additional information’ section. Reword ‘obligatory’ section and update ‘discretionary’ section.

Update Information

This entry was last updated in
TDSG-DD Edition 203, Release 58