Bacteria was detected in the blood of a 65-year-old woman who died of blood poisoning after receiving a transfusion at an Osaka hospital in September, hospital officials said Saturday.
Yersinia bacteria, which causes food poisoning, has been found in blood from the woman and in blood that was used for the transfusion at the Saiseikai Suita Hospital in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, the officials told a news conference.
The Japanese Red Cross Society is looking into the contamination and the patient's death, the officials said.
If it is confirmed that the woman died of Yersinia contamination, she will be the first person in Japan to have died of bacterial contamination from a transfusion.