Serratia marcescens strains implicated in adverse transfusion reactions form biofilms in platelet concentrates and demonstrate reduced detection by automated culture

Background and Objectives Serratia marcescens is a Gram-negative bacterium that has been implicated in adverse transfusion reactions associated with contaminated platelet concentrates. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the ability of S.similar to marcescens to form surface-attached aggregates (biofilms) could account for contaminated platelet units being missed during screening by the BacT/ALERT automated culture system.