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Climate change could threaten the safety of blood used for life-saving transfusions, Australian experts have warned.

A new report by West Australian researchers has raised concern that rising temperatures will increase the prevalence of viruses, like dengue and Ross River, already circulating in the northern regions of the country.

The heat could potentially increase the range of organisms that can transmit the viruses and make them more infectious more quickly by accelerating life cycles, said Professor Robert Dunstan, a specialist in emerging infectious diseases at Curtin University in Perth.

“These condition are expected to lead to higher levels of virus activity and greater exposure of humans to the viruses,” Prof Dunstan said.

He warned there was potential for blood transfusion to act as an “efficient vehicle” for transmitting these viruses.

The review published in the latest Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health confirms Australia's blood supply is among the safest in the world for currently screened viral pathogens like HIV and hepatitis.

“However, Australia has a number of other viral pathogens with the potential to threaten the safety of the blood supply such as the Ross River, Barmah Forrest, Kunjin, Japanese Encephalitis, Murray Valley Encephalitis and dengue viruses,” Prof Dunstan said. He said dengue was currently of most concern to blood safety because it can cause fatalities and there were regular seasonal outbreaks in northern Australia.

Also, in contrast to other viruses, an overseas case of transfusion transmission has already been documented.

“The risk of emergence of transfusion-transmissible infectious diseases emphasises the need for countries to work together to help each other maintain their blood supplies during epidemics and pandemics,” the researchers wrote in their report.

“This is particularly important should a major infectious disease pandemic occur in different countries at different times.”