We experienced two AB3 and a B3 from a 27-year-old student and his family. B3 subgroup was confirmed by delayed and weak mixed-field agglutination with anti-B serum, adsorption-elution test, serum and saliva hemagglutination inhibition test and family study. We report a family case of AB3 and B3 with brief review of literatures.
Adult ; Agglutination ; Hemagglutination Inhibition Tests ; Humans ; Saliva

We experienced two AB3 and a B3 from a 27-year-old student and his family. B3 subgroup was confirmed by delayed and weak mixed-field agglutination with anti-B serum, adsorption-elution test, serum and saliva hemagglutination inhibition test and family study. We report a family case of AB3 and B3 with brief review of literatures.
Adult ; Agglutination ; Hemagglutination Inhibition Tests ; Humans ; Saliva

BACKGROUND: The results of a particular test can be affected by the techniques used for testing. However, limited data is available on the testing techniques used in blood bank laboratories in Korea. The aim of this study was to evaluate the various testing techniques used in blood bank laboratories using the data obtained during the past six years from the Korean external quality assessment (KEQA) of blood bank laboratories. METHODS: Data was collected from all KEQA respondents via the KEQA website on the testing techniques used in blood bank laboratories from 2008 to 2013. The survey included questions on ABO grouping, D typing, crossmatching tests, direct antiglobulin tests (DAT), antibody (Ab) screening, and Ab identification (ID) tests. RESULTS: Based on the data obtained from 2008 to 2013 (ABO grouping data obtained from 2011 to 2013), the most frequently used techniques are as follows: slide agglutination (60.7% and 60.8%) for ABO cell typing; tube agglutination (78.2% and 81.2%) for ABO serum typing; slide agglutination (50% and 54.6%) for D typing; tube agglutination (91.9% and 83.8%) for crossmatching tests; tube agglutination (63.6% and 52.8%) for DAT; column agglutination technique (CAT; 74.5% and 89.4%) for Ab screen; and CAT (83.9% and 94.2%) for Ab ID. CONCLUSIONS: The findings reveal a steady increase in the use of CAT from 2008 to 2013 for crossmatching tests, DAT, Ab screen, and Ab ID and a decreasing use of the tube agglutination technique for the past six years. Since the slide agglutination technique accounted for a significant percentage of the tests conducted, further education is warranted on the improvement in the techniques used for ABO and D typing.
Agglutination ; Agglutination Tests ; Animals ; Blood Banks* ; Cats ; Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; Coombs Test ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Education ; Korea ; Mass Screening

Agglutination Tests ; methods ; Brucellosis ; blood ; diagnosis ; Coombs Test ; methods ; Humans ; Sensitivity and Specificity

BACKGROUND: Irregular antibodies are antibodies that are not regularly present in the serum of particular blood groups and its presence results in many problems including HDN (hemolytic disease of newborn) in transfusion medicine. Column agglutination test was recently introduced and has been widely used for advantages of standardized working procedures, standard reactions, stable reactions for hours and Coombs test without washing steps. We tested irregular antibodies in cord blood by column agglutination test and investigated its incidence and relation with HDN. METHODS: We tested the cord blood collected during delivery from 200 pregnant women. Column agglutination test was done on DiaMed ID MicroTyping System (DiaMed, Switzerland) and both LISS/Coombs and NaCl/Enzyme ID-cards were used. The antibody screening test was done first and antibody identification test was done to positive cases in same way. The cell typing and Rh phenotyping for cord blood of positive cases were also done. RESULTS: 2 cases of 200 samples (1%) were positive in the antibody screening test and each was identified as anti-D and anti-E antibody. CONCLUSIONS: Irregular antibody screening in cord blood by column agglutination test is thought to be helpful in early diagnosis and treatment of HDN.
Agglutination Tests* ; Agglutination* ; Antibodies ; Blood Group Antigens ; Coombs Test ; Early Diagnosis ; Erythroblastosis, Fetal ; Female ; Fetal Blood* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Mass Screening* ; Pregnant Women ; Transfusion Medicine

BACKGROUND: Candida dubliniensis is phenotypically similar to Candida albicans that may be underdiagnosed in clinical laboratory. In 2010, C. dubliniensis was first recovered from blood of a candidemia patient in Seoul, Korea. Also, a simple commercial latex agglutination (LA) test is available. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of C. dubliniensis among isolates in our stocks during 2-years period (2010-2011) and to evaluate the ability of LA test (Bichro-Dubli Fumouze®) for the differentiation of C. albicans and C. dubliniensis. METHODS: A total 509 isolates including 504 C. albicans and 5 C. dubliniensis were examined for LA test, the presence of “spiking” on blood agar plate, and the germ tube test. Also all isolates were tested using the VITEK 2 ID-YST system. RESULTS: No C. dubliniensis was found in 504 isolates of initially identified as C. albicans. The LA test was positive only in 5 clinical isolates and 2 type strains of C. dubliniensis. CONCLUSIONS: The data show that the prevalence of C. dubliniensis in Korea is still expected to be extremely low and LA test is very rapid, simple, and reliable tool for the differentiation of C. albicans and C. dubliniensis.
Agar ; Agglutination ; Candida albicans* ; Candida* ; Candidemia ; Humans ; Korea ; Latex Fixation Tests* ; Latex* ; Prevalence ; Seoul

BACKGROUND: Blood typing is an essential test for transfusion. Generally, blood typing is performed using a slide test, tube test or microcolumn agglutination test. The aims of this study were to develop a new blood typing kit using micromachining, microfluidics and microseparation methods, and to evaluate the clinical usefulness of the new blood typing kit. METHODS: We designed and manufactured a blood typing microchip using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which contained a microchannel (25~200 micrometer). The blood sample and antisera to be tested were dropped on the microwell for movement and mixing by capillary action. Once agglutination occurred, the microchannel acts as a filter and the blood type was determined by observation by the naked eye. To evaluate the newtyping kit, we tested sensitivity using artificially diluted blood and compared the results of the new typing method with the slide and tube methods using 70 samples. RESULTS: The new blood typing kit could differentiate a +4~+2 agglutination reaction, but could not detect a +1 agglutination reaction as observed by the naked eye. Among 70 samples, the results of ABO and Rh typing by the new typing method (n=66, > or = +2 agglutination reaction by the column agglutination method) were in accord with the results of the tube and slide methods, but couldnot detect agglutination in all 4 clinical samples, below a +1 agglutination reaction. CONCLUSION: The new blood typing kit is inadequate for routine use in the clinical laboratory due to low sensitivity, but with further improvement, it can be used economically, conveniently and objectively for blood typing without any special equipment. Moreover, the microfludics and separation method may be broadly applicable in other tests using the hemagglutination method.
Agglutination ; Agglutination Tests ; Blood Grouping and Crossmatching* ; Capillary Action ; Hemagglutination ; Immune Sera ; Microfluidics* ; Microtechnology

BACKGROUND: The weak D is characterized serologically by a weak or negative agglutination reaction with polyclonal anti-D in an immediate-spin test and agglutination is enhanced in the indirect antiglobulin test. Weak D has a lower number of D antigen or weaker antigen density than are normal D positive red cells. Here we studied the cause of weak D antigenicity at genetic level and compared to that of normal D RBCs. METHODS: The amplification of RHD gene and RHCcEe gene site was done in normal D(n=20), weak D(n=8), D negative group(n=20) by polymerase chain reaction and by based on D typing in these individuals compared to that of serologic D typing. In addition, to detect RHD gene mutation and nucleotide sequence difference of weak D group compared to normal D RBCs, single stranded conformational polymorphism PCR was simultaneuosly perfomed in two group by RHD amplified product(189 bp). We analysis the correlation RHD genotyping and serological phenotyping, and also analysis the difference of nucleotide sequence between two group in genetic level. RESULTS: The RHD genotyping was completely matched normal D(n=20), D negative group(n=20) but weak D group(n=8) showed same genotype of normal D RBCs. In single stranded conformational polymorphism PCR, weak D phenotypes does not show any abnormalities at the genomic level when compared to the RHD gene in normal D phenotypes. CONCLUSIONS: RHD PCR showed good correlation with conventional serologic test but weak D genotype was same as that of normal D RBCs. The weaker immunogenicity of weak D is not explained by genomic DNA difference itself.
Agglutination ; Base Sequence ; Coombs Test ; DNA ; Genotype ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational ; Serologic Tests

BACKGROUND: Clostidium difficile is one of the most important pathogens responsible for nosocomial diarrhea; therefore, we compared the efficacy of laboratory tests for diagnosing C. difficile diarrhea. METHODS: We evaluated 107 stool specimens using a latex agglutination test (LA) (BD CDT, Culturette CDT, Becton, Dickison and Company, USA) and an enzyme linked fluorescent immunoassay (ELFA) (VIDAS C. difficile Toxin A II, Bio-Merieux sa, Marcy-l'Etoile, France). Stool specimens were cultured using cycloserine cefoxitine fructose agar in anaerobic condition. For identification of C. difficile, spore stain and Vitek ANA identification card (Bio-Merieux sa) were used. Toxin A and toxin B genes were analysed by PCRs using primers NK3-NK2 and NK104N-K105 respectively. RESULTS: The concordance rate between LA and ELFA was 68.2%. Based on the culture results, the sensitivity/specificity of LA and ELFA were 54.8%/100% and 17.8%/100%, respectively. The positive rates of toxin A and B genes were both 90.4%(66/73). Based on the results of PCR assays for toxin A and B genes, the sensitivity/specificity of LA and ELFA were 37.9%/85.7% and 19.7%/100%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Based on C. difficile culture and toxin A and B gene PCR results, the sensitivity of LA was apparently higher than that of ELFA. However, it should not be simply estimated that ELFA has lower capability for detecting toxin A of C. difficile because the possibility of emerging variant strains of C. difficile could not be ruled out. The prevalence of toxigenic strains of C. difficile including variant strains should be studied in Korea.
Agar ; Agglutination* ; Cefoxitin ; Clostridium difficile* ; Clostridium* ; Cycloserine ; Diarrhea ; Fluorescence* ; Fructose ; Immunoassay ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Korea ; Latex Fixation Tests ; Latex* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Prevalence ; Spores

BACKGROUND: The identification of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the clinical laboratory has been typically performed by using methods that detect phenotypic expression of resistance determinants. However, these methods are not always reliable since phenotypic expression of methicillin resistance is known to be heterogeneous. In this study, MRSA-Screen test (Denka Seiken Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan), consisting of a slide latex agglutination kit that detects PBP 2a with a monoclonal antibody, was compared to the oxacillin disk diffusion test, the oxacillin-salt agar screen, agar dilution MIC and PCR of the mecA gene for the detection of methicillin resistance in S. aureus. METHODS: A total of 48 MRSA and 46 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) clinical isolates, defined by the presence or absence of the mecA gene, respectively, were tested. RESULTS: The MRSA-Screen test, the oxacillin disk diffusion test, and the oxacillin-salt agar screening test showed sensitivity of 97.9%, 93.8%, and 97.9% and specificity of 100% in all three tests. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the MRSA-Screen test is very accurate, reliable and easy to perform for detection of methicillin resistance in S. aureus.
Agar ; Agglutination ; Diffusion ; Latex Fixation Tests* ; Latex* ; Mass Screening ; Methicillin Resistance ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; Oxacillin ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Staphylococcus aureus* ; Staphylococcus*