CDC report on TB outbreak calls for better screening of bone allograft donors 

Five surgery patients were diagnosed with tuberculosis, two of whom died, after receiving bone allografts last year from a deceased donor, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported  Jan. 4. Thirty-six patients in seven states received bone allografts from the donor after nucleic acid amplification testing failed to detect TB in the product. 

“This second outbreak of bone allograft–related TB in recent years underscores the urgent need to implement improved donor screening and culture-based testing to prevent tissue-derived Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission,” the report states.