Second ECDC SoHO-Net Meeting Explores Blood Safety Issues

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) met in Stockholm, Sweden, last month for the second meeting of the Substances of Human Origin Network's (SoHO-Net) blood group. The meeting brought together representatives from European Union (EU) and European Economic Area countries, global health organizations and external experts to address critical issues in blood safety.

Discussions focused on the implementation of the EU’s 2024 SoHO regulation, prioritization of pathogens for upcoming technical guidelines and the risks of dengue virus transmission through transfusion. Participants also reviewed the application of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) risk models to support donor deferral decisions and provided feedback on ECDC’s surveillance tools for vector-borne diseases.