Blood banks start filtering out women's plasma due to TRALI

A lung injury called transfusion-related acute lung injury, or TRALI, which causes the lungs to fill with fluid, may be linked to certain immune cells that are carried by women who have been pregnant. For this reason blood banks are starting to separate women's plasma.

According to news sources TRALI hits a few hundred people a year and kills about 10 percent of them.

The Well-Timed Period has extensive details about TRALI.

I See Invisible People says don't let this keep you from donating.

And Shakespeare's Sister combines this story with social commentary:

"I can't help thinking of the plasma center my aunt used to manage, which was disproportionately populated with low income women who were selling their plasma to feed themselves and their kids. You can't sell your blood, you see; only your plasma."

Also posted at BlogHer.