Brian Allgood Army Community Hospital (BAACH) is one of the US military General Hospitals in Korea that have blood services. The author of this paper is a civilian employee who has been working in the blood bank for 37 years. Through this experience, a difference between BAACH and the Korean Medical Center has been observed. First, BAACH performs a blood culture for the sterility test upon the receipt of platelets from the Korean Red Cross, and measures the pH at the end of allowable storage. Second, some military facilities use the Frozen Blood Program as the storage/thawing system of Deglycerolized Red Blood Cells (DRBC) and the use of DRBC. Third, most military facilities have a continuous training education program for those working in the blood bank provided by the Armed Service Blood Program.
Arm ; Blood Banks ; Education ; Erythrocytes ; Hospitals, Community ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Infertility ; Korea ; Military Facilities ; Military Personnel ; Red Cross

BACKGROUND: If donors who were deferred due to the reactivity or grey zone in HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) assay want to donate blood again, they need to pass reentry tests. On the other hand, approximately half of the donors who are subject to the reentry tests cannot be reentered. This study examined the association between the sample to cutoff (S/Co) value of the HBsAg assay and the final results of the reentry test. METHODS: This study analyzed the S/Co values of the HBsAg assay and the final results of the reentry tests for the 3,947 donors from January 2008 to December 2017 using the database of Blood Information Management System of the Korean Red Cross. RESULTS: 1,767 donors (44.8%) were not reentered among 3,947 deferred donors. Among 1,585 donors showing ≥10 of the S/Co value in the HBsAg screening test, 1,542 donors (97.3%) were not reentered. The additional reentry tests were performed on 120 donors who were not reentered in the first reentry test; 98 donors (81.7%) were still not reentered. Overall, 4.6% of the donors showing a grey zone in the HBsAg assay were not reentered. CONCLUSION: The reentry test needs to be restricted for the deferred donors showing a more than 10 S/Co value. The application of the grey zone of current HBsAg assay will need to be continued to enhance the HBV-related blood safety.
Antigens, Surface* ; Blood Safety ; Hand ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Humans ; Immunoassay* ; Information Management ; Mass Screening ; Red Cross ; Tissue Donors*

BACKGROUND: To improve Rh-related antigen negative blood supply effectively, the Korean Red Cross (KRC) blood centers have performed Rh phenotype screening tests of C, c, E and e antigens for all donors since April, 2013. Especially for rare ‘-D-/-D-’ blood supply and donor recruitment, we have implemented Rh phenotype confirmation test for all C, c, E and e antigen negative donors. In this study, we report the test results of 7 donors with ‘-D-/-D-’ phenotype. METHODS: All three KRC Blood Laboratory Centers performed Rh phenotype screening tests using the automatic machine, PK7300 (Beckman Coulter, Japan), for all 876,920 donors from January 1, 2018 to April 30, 2018. We then performed the Rh phenotype confirmation test using the tube method manually, at room temperature, 37℃ and antihuman globulin phase. RESULTS: Among 876,920 donors, 14 were Rh antigen C, c, E, e negative as results of Rh phenotype screening test. The results of Rh phenotype confirmation test of these 14 donors showed that 7 donors were Rh antigen C, c, E, e negative. The ratio of -D-/-D- phenotype for all donors was 0.000798%. CONCLUSION: Our data suggests that -D-/-D- phenotype is one of the rare blood groups among Koreans. Although ‘-D-/-D-’ phenotype was confirmed by serologic tests, it is necessary to re-confirm it by molecular genetic techniques.
Blood Group Antigens ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Methods ; Molecular Biology ; Phenotype* ; Red Cross ; Serologic Tests ; Tissue Donors*

BACKGROUND: The management of red blood cell inventory in hospital's blood bank is crucial. The Australian Red Cross Blood Service developed a RBC safety stock calculation method (abbreviated as the ‘Australian formula’). In this study, we applied this method to four Korean hospitals to calculate the safe RBC stock level. METHODS: The hospitals included in this study were three tertiary teaching hospitals and one teaching hospital. The number of hospital beds in these hospitals were 1093, 1330, 1400, and 854, respectively. The data were collected from the Korea Blood Inventory Monitoring System of Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. The target/minimal/maximal RBC inventory levels and inventory days (inventory level/average daily usage) by ABO blood types were calculated using the daily red cell transfusion, wastage, and supply data between May and October 2016. RESULTS: The enrolled hospitals showed different levels for the target/minimal/maximal RBC inventory according to each blood group. The average of RBC inventory days in the four hospitals was 4.2 days. For each blood group, RBC inventory days were 3.2~4.4 days for O blood group type, 3.5~4.7 days for A blood group, 3.9~4.5 days for B blood group, and 3.9~5.5 days for AB blood group. CONCLUSION: Because the optimal RBC inventory levels are different depending on the hospital characteristics and the ABO blood group, it is necessary to set the RBC inventory levels for each hospital distinctly. The data obtained in this study will help manage blood product inventory in various hospital blood banks.
Blood Banks ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Erythrocytes* ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Korea ; Methods ; Red Cross

The Korean Empire, its state sovereignty threatened by the Empire of Japan, joined the Geneva Conventions in 1903 for the purpose of neutral diplomacy and established the imperial Korean Red Cross Hospital in 1905. This hospital was a result of the effort of the Korean Empire to seek a new medical system based on the Western medicine. However, after the Russo-Japanese War, Japan interfered straightforwardly in the domestic affairs of Korea and eventually abolished the Korean Red Cross Hospital in 1907 to create Daehan Hospital under Japanese colonial rule. With newly-found historical records, this study investigates the whole process of the Korean Red Cross Hospital, which has remained unknown so far, despite its importance. From the very beginning, the Korean Red Cross Hospital was under strong influence of the Empire of Japan. The site for the hospital was chosen by a Japanese army doctor, Junryō Yoshimoto, and the construction was supervised by Rokurō Katsumata, who also later on are involved in the construction of Daehan Hospital. Moreover, all the main positions for medical treatments were held by Japanese practitioners such as Gorō Tatami and Kaneko Yano. Nevertheless, the Korean government had to shoulder the all operating costs. The office of the Korean Red Cross was relocated away from the Korean Red Cross Hospital, and the government of the Korean Empire was not willing to burden the expenses of the Hospital. Moreover, the list of employees of the Korean Red Cross and that of the Korean Red Cross Hospital were drawn up separately: the former is left only in Korea and the latter in Japan. These facts suggest that those two institutes were managed dualistically unlike any other nation, implying that this may have been a means to support the Daehan Hospital project. According to the statistics, health care services in the Korean Red Cross Hospital seems to have been carried out successfully. There had been an increase in the number of patients, and the ratio of female patients was relatively high (26.4%). Only Western medications were prescribed and surgical operations with anesthesia were performed routinely. The approach to Western medicine in Korea was changing during that period. The rise and fall of the Korean Red Cross Hospital represent the urgent situation of the Korean Empire as well as the imperialistic methodology of the Empire of Japan to use medicine as a tool for colonization. Although the transition process of medical policy by the Japanese Resident-General of Korea still remains to be fully elucidated, this paper contributes to a better understanding of the history of modern medicine in Korea.
Academies and Institutes ; Anesthesia ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Colon ; Delivery of Health Care ; Diplomacy ; Female ; History, Modern 1601- ; Humans ; Japan ; Korea ; Red Cross* ; Shoulder ; Social Change

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: We examined dietary fat intake and the major food sources by young children in Korea. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 1,041 children aged 1–5 years were identified from the 2013–2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Data on total fat and fatty acid intake were obtained by a single 24-h dietary recall. Food sources were identified based on the amounts of total fat and fatty acids consumption according to each food. Fat and fatty acid intakes and their food sources were presented by age group (1–2-y, n = 401; 3–5-y, n = 640). Fat and fatty acid intakes were also evaluated according to socioeconomic characteristics. RESULTS: The mean intake of fat was 27.1 ± 0.8 g in the 1-2-y group and 35.5 ± 0.7 g in the 3-5-y group, and about 23% of the total energy was obtained from fat in both age groups. The mean intake of saturated fatty acids (SFA) was 10.5 ± 0.3 g in the 1-2-y group and 12.7 ± 0.3 g in the 3-5-y group, with the 1-2-y group obtaining more energy from SFA than the 3-5-y group (9.2% vs. 8.3%). The mean intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) was 6.3 ± 0.1 g in the total subjects, with 0.8 ± 0.03 g of n-3 fatty acids and 5.5 ± 0.1 g of n-6 fatty acids being consumed. Milk, pork, and eggs were major food sources of total fat, SFA, and monounsaturated fatty acids, and soybean oil was the main contributor to PUFA in both age groups. In the 1-2-y group, children in rural areas had significantly higher intake of PUFA and n-3 fatty acids than did those in urban areas. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide current information on dietary fat intake among young Korean children and could be used to establish dietary strategies for improvement of health status.
Child* ; Cross-Sectional Studies* ; Dietary Fats ; Eggs ; Fatty Acids* ; Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated ; Fatty Acids, Omega-3 ; Fatty Acids, Omega-6 ; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated ; Humans ; Korea* ; Milk ; Nutrition Surveys* ; Ovum ; Red Meat ; Soybean Oil

OBJECTIVES: Biofilm formation is one of the important features of Staphylococcus epidermidis, particularly in nosocomial infections. We aimed to investigate the biofilm production by phenotypic methods and the presence of ica genes in S epidermidis. METHODS: A total of 41 S epidermidis isolates were recovered from different clinical specimens. Biofilm formation was evaluated by microtiter plate, tube method and Congo red agar method. The presence of icaA and icaD genes was investigated by PCR. Validity of methods (sensitivity and specificity), and metrics for test performance (positive/negative predictive value, and positive/negative likelihood ratio) were determined. RESULTS: By both microtiter plate and tube method, 53.6% of S epidermidis isolates were able to produce biofilm, whilst only 24.4% of isolates provided a biofilm phenotype on Congo red agar plates. icaA and icaD genes were found in 100% and 95.1% of isolates, respectively. Biofilm phenotypes accounted for 4.8% by microtiter plate assay, despite the absence of the ica gene. Congo red agar and PCR exhibited a lower sensitivity (18% and 45.5%, respectively) for identifying the biofilm phenotype in comparison to microtiter plate. CONCLUSION: The microtiter plate method remains generally a better tool to screen biofilm production in S epidermidis. In addition, the ability of S epidermidis to form biofilm is not always dependent on the presence of ica genes, highlighting the importance of ica-independent mechanisms of biofilm formation. The use of reliable methods to specifically detect biofilms can be helpful to treat the patients affected by such problematic bacteria.
Agar ; Bacteria ; Biofilms* ; Congo Red ; Cross Infection ; Humans ; Methods ; Operon ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Staphylococcus epidermidis* ; Staphylococcus*

OBJECTIVE: To explore the levels of blood manganese concentration in pregnant women in 1st and 2nd trimester and the associated factors in three counties of northern China. METHODS: We carried out a cross-sectional investigation in three counties of northern China in 2010. Two hundred and seventy three pregnant women whose gestational age was less than 28 weeks were recruited, their demographic characteristics and information on exposure to indoor air pollution from coal combustion and dietary during one month before pregnancy till the date of investigation were collected with questionnaires by face-to-face interview, their fasting venous whole blood samples were collected with vacuum blood collection tube containing heparin lithium at the Maternal and Child Health Hospital in the three counties. Their blood manganese concentrations were measured with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Nonparametric tests were used to compare the concentrations among the groups and multivariate unconditional Logistic regression model was used to adjust the confounding factors. RESULTS: The geometric mean of blood manganese of the women was 16.78 (95%CI: 16.14-17.45) μg/L, and the median (interquartile range) was 16.59 (13.68-20.44) μg/L. According to the reference range of general healthy adult female's manganese concentration in the whole blood 3.39-20.67 μg/L, the proportion of manganese concentration lower than normal, normal, higher than normal were 0%, 76.6% and 23.4%, respectively. Medians of blood manganese concentrations among the women in Yushe, Dai and Xianghe were 17.51 (13.96-22.04), 16.92 (13.78-21.45) and 15.43 (12.25-17.56) μg/L, respectively (P<0.05), and multivariate analysis found that the risk of higher than normal in Yushe County was 6.15 (95%CI: 1.21-31.35) times the risk in Xianghe county. Blood manganese concentrations were higher in women who were farmers, had lower income per month, and consumed more vinegar and less peppers, pork, beef and mutton during the month before investigation (all P<0.05), the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) between these factors and high blood manganese concentration were not statistically significant No statistical associations were found between blood manganese levels and indoor air pollution from coal combustion for both of crude odds ratrio (COR) and AOR (P>0.05). CONCLUSION The blood manganese concentration among pregnant women in the three counties is similar to the women in some other studies abroad and quite different from the findings of several domestic researches. The risk of blood manganese concentration higher than normal in Yushe county was higher than Xianghe county. The relationships between high manganese concentration and exposure to indoor air pollution from coal combustion or dietary need further research in the future.
Adult ; China ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Diet ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Manganese/blood* ; Odds Ratio ; Pregnancy ; Red Meat ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: In the Korean Red Cross Blood Center, ABO blood typing are routinely performed only via red cell grouping at blood donations sites. However, when an error occurs in this process, it is impossible to issue a blood product contrary to the result of the blood type of the Blood Laboratory Center, thereby resulting in delayed supply. Therefore, efforts are needed to reduce typing errors at blood donation sites. METHODS: We analyzed 656,786 donor screenings between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016;we also analyzed the statistical data of donor ABO typing between 2013 and 2015. To reduce ABO typing error, we notified and trained nurses at Busan, Gyeongnam, Ulsan, and Daegu-Gyeongbuk Blood centers in June, 2016. We tried to confirm the improvement of ABO typing error at blood donation sites by comparing ABO typing before and after training. For data comparison, chi-square test was conducted (95% confidence interval, 0.05 significant level). RESULTS: The blood typing error rate was significantly lower (P=0.003) four months after training (0.005%) than before training (0.015%), and the blood typing error rate was significantly higher for the first blood donor (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Educational training for nurses at blood donation sites may be effective in reducing ABO typing error. Continuous and regular training seems to be needed in future to reduce ABO typing error.
Blood Donors* ; Blood Grouping and Crossmatching* ; Busan ; Donor Selection ; Humans ; Red Cross ; Tissue Donors ; Ulsan

BACKGROUND: Transfusion transmissible emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) is a potential risk to the safety of blood transfusions due to the lack of donor screening assays. To prevent the spread of EIDs through blood transfusions, we attempted to predict the possibility of blood donations from people with EIDs using a public database. METHODS: We used the Disease Web Statistics System of the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Korean Statistical Information Service. We estimated the possibility of blood donations from people with EIDs using the public database combined with the database made available by the Blood Information Management System of the Korean Red Cross. RESULTS: Among the transfusion transmissible EIDs, Babesiosis, Leishmaniasis, West Nile fever, Chikungunya, and Dengue fever were reported in Korea. All of them were cases imported from abroad. Although the number of reported cases of Babesiosis, Leishmaniasis, West Nile fever, and Chikungunya were less than 10 per year until 2016, the reported cases of Dengue fever gradually increased from 2001, and there were 318 cases of Dengue fever in 2016. CONCLUSION: The possibility of blood donation from people with transfusion-transmissible EIDs was low because all reported transfusion-transmissible EIDs in Korea were from foreigners and blood donation from Koreans who returned from abroad was restricted for a period of a month. Nonetheless, preventive strategy for donation from people is necessary given the recent increase in Dengue fever.
Animals ; Babesiosis ; Blood Donors* ; Blood Transfusion ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Communicable Diseases, Emerging* ; Dengue ; Disease Outbreaks* ; Donor Selection ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Humans ; Information Management ; Information Services ; Korea ; Leishmaniasis ; Red Cross ; West Nile Fever