BACKGROUND: Seroincidence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) among Korean blood donors has not been reported. This study was conducted to calculate the seroincidence of HBV among blood donors and to estimate the risk of post-transfusion hepatitis B by donated blood in window period of infection. METHODS: HBV seroincidence was calculated among repeat-donors who had donated from Nov. 1994 through Dec. 1996. To calculate the person-years, the database of the Korean National Red Cross was used in which results for HBsAg enzyme immunoassay were filed up. The observed incidence was adjusted by interdonation interval of incident cases, who were defined as donors showing seroconversion. The risk of post-transfusion hepatitis B by donated bloods in window period of infection was estimated. RESULTS: HBV seroincidence was estimated to be 180.85/100,000 person-years. This was adjusted as 602.83/100,000 person-years by considering interdonation intervals. The risk of post-transfusion hepatitis B was estimated to be 974 units per one million of whole blood units due to be in window period of infection. CONCLUSION: The estimated seroincidence of HBV among Korean blood donors and thereby the risk of HBV transmission by donated bloods in window period of infection was about 50 to 60 times higher than those of Japan and United States of America.(Korean J Blood Transfusion 10(1): 1-4, 1999)
Blood Donors* ; Blood Transfusion ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis B virus* ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Incidence ; Japan ; Red Cross ; Tissue Donors ; United States

BACKGROUNDS: With the recent elucidation of genetic basis of Rh blood group, it is now available the molecular genotyping methods for Rh blood typing. These can be used when serological typing is difficult. This study was conducted to investigate the usefulness of Rh genotyping method for Koreans. METHODS: Genotyping for Rh C/c and E/e was performed in peripheral blood DNA samples from 34 blood donors by polymerase chain reaction using sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP). The PCR determined genotypes were compared with serologically determined phenotypes. RESULTS: The Rh C/c and E/e genotyping results of 34 blood donors were full concordance with the results of their serologic phenotyping. CONCLUSIONS: Rh genotyping method on the basis of Rh genetic model can be applied to Koreans. This genotyping method would be useful tool in prenatal Rh typing of fetus at risk of hemolytic disease and when serotyping is not available for example massive transfusion. (Korean J Blood Transfusion 10(1): 21-26, 1999)
Blood Donors ; Blood Grouping and Crossmatching ; Blood Transfusion ; DNA ; Fetus ; Genotype ; Humans ; Models, Genetic ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Serotyping

No abstract available.

BACKGROUND: Alexithymia refers to a specific disturbance in psychic functioning characterized by difficulties in capacity to verbalize affect and to elaborate fantasies. Although initially described in the context of psychosomatic illness, alexithymic characteristics may be observed in patients with a wide range of medical and psychiatric disorders. OBJECTIVE: The present study was to evaluate the relationship between the alexithymia and bronchial asthma, and to compare the results with finding from a group of acute infectious illness subjects. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Alexithymia was measured with on Korean translation of the TAS-20 (Toronto Alexithymic Scale-20 Korea version) and the Scored Archetypal 9 Test(SAT9). Thirty patients with bronchial asthma and thirty patients with acute infectious illness completed these tests. The SAT9 and the TAS-20K scores were compared in the both group, considering the age, gender, education level, and duration of illness. RESULT: Bronchial asthma patients had significantly higher score of on the TAS-20K and SAT9 compared with those with infectious illness(p<0.05). The two scales correlated in expected direction. Alexithymia was significantly related to education level(SAT9: r=0.335, TAS-20K: r=-0.376, p<0.01) and duration of illness(asthma group, SAT9: r=-0.383, TAS-20K: r=0.288, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Bronchial asthma patients had significantly higher alexithymic scores. This finding suggests that psycliathic consultation may be considered for the management of asthmatic patients with alexithyria.
Affective Symptoms* ; Asthma* ; Education ; Fantasy ; Humans ; Korea ; Weights and Measures

BACKGROUND: Post-transfusion hepatitis B remains a risk for recipients of HBsAg negative bloods in Korea. The usefulness of anti-HBc screening for blood donors to reduce the risk of HBV transmission was evaluated in this study using LG Anti-HBc and LG Anti-HBs ELISA (LG Chemicals, Seoul, Korea) and HBV nucleic acid amplification test. METHOD: Sera from 2,274 HBsAg-negative blood donors were tested of anti-HBc and anti-HBs by LG Anti-HBc and LG Anti-HBs ELISA, respectively. Using 260 samples from HBsAg-negative blood donors and 62 FANA-positive samples, reactivity to LG Anti-HBc ELISA were compared with COBAS CORE Anti-HBc EIA (Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland). The precision of LG Anti-HBc was also tested. The nucleic acid amplification of 97 primary pools prepared from 2,274 samples was carried out, and then HBV presence was confirmed in individual samples. RESULT: Of 2,274 HBsAg-negative blood donors, 531 (23.4%) were positive for anti-HBc and 32 (1.4%) were anti-HBc positive/ anti-HBs negative. The concordance rate of LG Anti-HBc ELISA and COBAS was 97.8% (315/322). The intra-run and inter-run coefficient of variation was 4.7-10.2% and 2.5-11.4%, respectively. Thirteen pools showed initial positive in HBV PCR, but seven pools (53.8%) were finally found to be false positive. Of six true positive pools, seven samples were confirmed to have HBV DNA. The HBV detection rate was 6.3% (2/32) among donors whose results were anti-HBc positive/ anti-HBs negative. CONCLUSION: Among screen-negative blood donors, 6.3% of donors whose seroreactivity was anti-HBc positive/ anti-HBs negative were positive for HBV by nucleic acid amplification test, while donors showing such seroreactivity were only 1.4%. It is suggested that an introduction of anti-HBc and anti-HBs testing in Korean Blood Donation program be efficient to attain safety from HBV transmission.
Blood Donors* ; DNA ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay* ; Hepatitis B ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Humans ; Korea ; Mass Screening* ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Seoul ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUND: Prenatal determination of a blood antigen of a fetus at risk for hemolytic disease of the newborn makes the obstetrician facilitate to take timely procedures such as intra-uterine transfusion or plasma exchange. However, determining the phenotype of a fetal antigen is of limited use because fetal RBCs must be obtained by periumbilical blood sampling which entails considerably greater adverse outcomes than an amniocentesis does. METHODS: Genotypes of Rh, MN and Kell systems using 14 amniotic fluid samples were compared with phenotypes of cord blood. The incidence of maternal blood contamination in 8 amniotic fluid samples which were obtained during mid-trimester was estimated by amplification of variable number of tandem repeat(VNTR) D1S80. The detection sensitivity of each technique was evaluated by artificially mixed samples. RESULTS: All the 14 paired samples of amniotic fluid and cord blood showed identical results between the genotype of amniocyte and the phenotype of cord blood. Of 8 paired samples of amniotic fluid and maternal blood, D1S80 VNTRs of fetuses were evidently amplified and there were no evidence of maternal blood contamination. The detection sensitivity of Rh(E) and Rh(c) genotyping was 0.5% by ethidium bromide staining, while D1S80 VNTR was 10%. Heterozygosity of D1S80 VNTR was 94%. CONCLUSIONS: Genotypes of Rh, MN and Kell systems could be prenatally determined by this technique. Since the heterozygosity of D1S80 VNTR is high up to 94% in Koreans, D1S80 VNTR could be effectively used in determining the maternal blood contamination of amniotic fluid. The prenatal determination of fetal red cell antigen genotypes by this technique will be helpful for the management of sensitized pregnancies at risk for HDN.
Amniocentesis ; Amniotic Fluid* ; Blood Group Antigens* ; DNA* ; Ethidium ; Female ; Fetal Blood ; Fetus ; Genotype ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Phenotype ; Plasma Exchange ; Pregnancy

BACKGROUND: Despite sensitive antibody-based blood-donor screening, a residual risk of transfusion-transmitted viral infections exists. For hepatitis C virus (HCV), window-period donations account for the major risk. In the previous studies, however, estimates of the risk of post-transfusion hepatitis C was much higher than that calculated from the risk of donation in the seroconversion window. Therefore, we reevaluated the rate of HCV RNA positive/ anti-HCV negative samples using the two domestic anti-HCV EIA kits. All the samples showing HCV RNA positive/ anti-HCV negative were genotyped. METHODS: A total of 909 patients' samples showing HCV RNA positivity using the Amplicor HCV TEST (Roche Diagnostic Systems) was retested for antibody presence with the LG HCD 3.0 (LG Chemicals) and DONG-A HCV 3.0 (DONG-A Pharmaceuticals) EIA kit. Samples that were non-reactive to the EIA kits were genotyped by INNO-LiPA HCV kit (INNOGENETICS, Belgium). RESULTS: Among 909 tested samples, 5 samples showed nonreactivity to both anti-HCV EIA kits, while 1 sample was nonreactive only to DONG-A HCV 3.0. When RT-PCR for HCV was performed using stored or follow-up samples, 4 samples showed negative results. Medical records were also reviewed and found to be false positive for HCV RT-PCR in 3 of those 4 patients. In the case of one remaining patient, the follow-up RT-PCR was negative. Finally, 2 samples (0.2%) showed HCV RNA positive/ anti-HCV negative. The 2 samples were genotyped as 1b type. CONCLUSIONS: More than 99.8% of HCV RNA positive samples showed reactivity to anti-HCV EIA kits. There were two samples that were non-reactive to anti-HCV kits and were genotyped as 1b type, which is the most common subtype in Korea. Our study suggests that false negativity of anti-HCV in Korea would very rarely be caused by uncommon HCV genotypes.
Follow-Up Studies ; Genotype* ; Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques* ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Medical Records ; RNA

BACKGROUND: HLA antisera are procured mainly from placental blood or blood of multiparous women. The latter has a merit that a large volume of antisera could be obtained, once the antisera are found to be of good quality. METHODS: A total of 1,437 multiparous blood donors were screened for the presence of anti- HLA antibodies. After the first screening with 20 panel cells, initially reactive sera were re- screened with 30 panel cells. RESULTS: Of 1,437 sera, 50 sera (3.5%) were reactive to both the first and the second screening panel cells. Among 50 sera, 25 (50.0%) sera could be assigned for their antibody specificity with r value of 0.8 or more. Only 14 samples (1.0%) showed reactivity to two or more panels with same antigen specificity and strength index of 80% or more. Four donors repeatedly donated blood with specificities of A24, A26, B7, and B7+B40, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Screening of HLA class I antibodies in multiparous blood donors showed that HLA antisera of good quality could be obtained in about 1% of the donors in Korea.
Antibodies ; Antibody Specificity ; Blood Donors* ; Female ; Humans ; Immune Sera* ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUNDS: With the recent elucidation of genetic basis of Rh blood group, it is now available the molecular genotyping methods for Rh blood typing. These can be used when serological typing is difficult. This study was conducted to investigate the usefulness of Rh genotyping method for Koreans. METHODS: Genotyping for Rh C/c and E/e was performed in peripheral blood DNA samples from 34 blood donors by polymerase chain reaction using sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP). The PCR determined genotypes were compared with serologically determined phenotypes. RESULTS: The Rh C/c and E/e genotyping results of 34 blood donors were full concordance with the results of their serologic phenotyping. CONCLUSIONS: Rh genotyping method on the basis of Rh genetic model can be applied to Koreans. This genotyping method would be useful tool in prenatal Rh typing of fetus at risk of hemolytic disease and when serotyping is not available for example massive transfusion.
Blood Donors ; Blood Grouping and Crossmatching ; DNA ; Fetus ; Genotype ; Humans ; Models, Genetic ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Serotyping

BACKGROUND: Seroincidence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) among Korean blood donors has not been reported. This study was conducted to calculate the seroincidence of HBV among blood donors and to estimate the risk of post-transfusion hepatitis B by donated blood in window period of infection. METHODS: HBV seroincidence was calculated among repeat-donors who had donated from Nov. 1994 through Dec. 1996. To calculate the person-years, the database of the Korean National Red Cross was used in which results for HBsAg enzyme immunoassay were filed up. The observed incidence was adjusted by interdonation interval of incident cases, who were defined as donors showing seroconversion. The risk of post-transfusion hepatitis B by donated bloods in window period of infection was estimated. RESULTS: HBV seroincidence was estimated to be 180.85/100,000 person-years. This was adjusted as 602.83/100,000 person-years by considering interdonation intervals. The risk of post-transfusion hepatitis B was estimated to be 974 units per one million of whole blood units due to be in window period of infection. CONCLUSION: The estimated seroincidence of HBV among Korean blood donors and thereby the risk of HBV transmission by donated bloods in window period of infection was about 50 to 60 times higher than those of Japan and United States of America.
Americas ; Blood Donors* ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis B virus* ; Hepatitis B* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Incidence ; Japan ; Red Cross ; Tissue Donors ; United States