Guidance

SaBTO microbiological safety guidelines

Information on the safety of transplanting human organs, tissues and cells from the advisory committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO).

• From: Department of Health and Social Care
• Published: 21 February 2011
• Last updated: 21 May 2024
  Show all updates

  1. 21 May 2024

     Added HTML version of the guidelines.

  2. 18 January 2024

     The main changes from the previous published guidelines from March 2023 are: update on Monkeypox (Mpox) in section 13; update on malaria in section 13; addition of section on human herpes virus (HHV-8), in the context of introduction of screening for HHV-8 in deceased organ donors, in section 12.23; updates to Table 3.

  3. 15 March 2023

     The main changes from the previous published guidelines from 2020 are: addition of a footnote to include the changes to UK legislation since the UK left the EU in 2021; clarification on who should provide expert guidance on the interpretation of microbiological results in section 9; addition of Monkeypox (Mpox) to section 13 and updated residual risk estimates in Table 4.

  4. 26 March 2020

     Addition of a new annex to cover SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

  5. 11 January 2018

     Added updated guidelines for 2017 and summary of major changes.

  6. 21 February 2011

     First published.

Documents

Summary of changes

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Chapter 1: introduction

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Chapter 2: legislation and accountability

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Chapter 3: overview of the principles underpinning these guidelines

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Chapter 4: referral for donation

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Chapter 5: donor assessment

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Chapter 6: collection of material for donor sampling

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Chapter 7: haemodilution, transfusion and donor testing

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Chapter 8: handling and transportation of samples for testing

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Chapter 9: laboratory requirement for the microbiological screening of donors

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Chapter 10: microbiological testing of donation prior to transplantation

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Chapter 11: microbiological risk of cryopreservation of donations

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Chapter 12: interpreting donor test results

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Chapter 13: infections present at the time of donation

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Chapter 14: clinical conditions present at the time of death

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Chapter 15: exceptional use of organs and tissues from donors potentially or known to be infected

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Chapter 16: adverse incidents relating to transplantation

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Chapter 17: adverse incidents reporting

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Chapter 18: links to other resources

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Annex 1: organs, tissues and cells used in transplantation and SARS-CoV-2

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Annex 2: members of original working group

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SaBTO microbiological safety guidelines (PDF version)

PDF, 687 KB, 68 pages

Summary of major changes to guidelines: 2017

PDF, 202 KB, 17 pages

Details

This document provides guidance on minimising the risk of an infection being passed on through transplanted organs, tissues and cells.

This guidance was first published in 2017, and replaced the 2011 ‘Guidance on the microbiological safety of human organs, tissues and cells used in transplantation’. The summary document outlines the major changes to the guidance in 2017.