it seems that receiving a red-blood-cell transfusion during surgery increases risk of infection

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An interesting article about the relationship between red-blood-cell transfusion during cardiac surgery and the risk of pneumonia afterward.

Apparently red-blood-cell transfusion during surgery raises the likelihood of infection after surgery, generally (not just cardiac surgery, and not just pneumonia).

Interesting (wonder why?) and scary..............


This is yet another evidence of a human intervention having side-effects that were not imagined, but which show up after time (and data collected and analyzed)..........

It scares me, how willing -- no, how *eager* -- we humans are to jump in and mess with stuff, regardless of how little we know about it.

In some cases the risk is almost certainly worth it (if someone HAS to have a transfusion, they have to have it, I would think), but what about automatic use of antibiotics to make animals grow bigger so we can sell them younger and make more money?  No "need" there, and the consequences are only beginning to be uncovered (and they are ugly.........).

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