Rhesus Typing Research Articles

Implementation of the rhesus prevention programme: a prospective study.

All rhesus-negative women who completed a pregnancy between January and August 1992 in two Scottish regions were studied to assess whether the administration of the rhesus prevention programme was complete: 671 rhesus positive (or rhesus type unknown) pregnancies were completed in 1120 Rh D negative women. For eight pregnancies no record of Rh D administration at birth was available. For recorded antenatal events that should have resulted in its administration anti-D was given in 195/280 (69.6%). Kleihauer testing was carried out in 9 of 98 instances of antepartum haemorrhage occurring after 20 weeks gestation. No cases of antenatal immunisation were identified. The study identified a need to increase awareness of the necessity for anti-D administration after potentially immunising events during pregnancy, and for increasing compliance with administration of postnatal anti-D in one of the study regions. Re-evaluation is also required of the recommendation that Kleihauer testing should be done when antenatal anti-D is given following an obstetric event after 20 weeks.

HLA types and ABO blood groups in patients with infectious mononucleosis.

Investigations of HLA and blood-groups were carried out in 68 patients with infectious mononucleosis comprising all known cases diagnosed within one year in a restricted geographical area of Denmark. The HLA distribution of these patients did not differ significantly from that of controls. Combining the results of the present investigation with two previous studies did not show any significantly different distribution from that of combined control groups. The ABO and Rhesus typing was in accordance with that found in a major Danish control group. However, available studies do not exclude the possibility that HLA-D/DR or still unknown HLA factors may be involved in the susceptibility to mononucleosis.

Résultats de l'utilisation du Groupamatic dans la surveillance des allo-immunisations fœto-maternelles

The A.V.I.S. Blood Transfusion Center of Turin performs the screening of foetomaternal allo-immunizations for the S. Anna Hospital of Turin. This hospital includes 3 hospital departments and 3 obstetrical and gynaecological university departments. The number of births in one year is roughly 13.000, i.e. 50 mother-baby couples, are tested every day. The identification system and the sampling process are described. The program used on the Groupamatic system includes: 1.) First run: Blood typing of mother blood with screening of alloantibodies. Second run: Blood typing control, screening of immune anti-A and anti-B antibodies, syphilis screening. 2.) Washing of cord blood red blood cells: First run: Washed red blood cells ABO and Rhesus typing, direct Coombs test. Second run: Blood typing control. Automatic screening of maternal irregular alloantibodies and automatic indirect Coombs test on washed cordblood red cells are simultaneously controlled with standard manual techniques. Sampling and testing are processed within 24 hours after birth. The set of results concerning mother-baby couples are grouped on one card and sent to the hospital department for a quick MHNN prophylaxy. Results of tests performed on 6.351 pregnancies studied until birth are presented. The automated direct Coombs test was positive with: 1--95% of new borns from mother who have a high immune allo antibody anti-A/B titer (IgG after treatment with two Mercapto etanol greater than I/64). 2--100% of new borns from mother who have irregular allo antibodies in Rh, Kell, Duffy or Kidd systems.

Automated Readout of Sample Identification and Test Results in a BG‐8 Blood Grouping Machine

A fully automated readout unit for the BG-8 blood-grouping machine, printing Idee identification numbers with matching ABO grouping and rhesus (D) typing results is described. In 6,737 samples, no incorrect blood group was recorded. Two rhesus (D) positive samples were overlooked, however, and 16.4% of the samples had to be retested because of irregular reaction patterns. Better results are to be expected with properly selected test cells and anti-D serum. The readout unit is easily operated and is not disturbed by clots. The additional equipment needed replaces the modules which were necessary for recording on filter paper.

Automated Readout of Sample Identification and Test Results in a BG-8 Blood Grouping Machine

A fully automated readout unit for the BG-8 blood-grouping machine, printing Idee identification numbers with matching ABO grouping and rhesus (D) typing results is described. In 6,737 samples, no incorrect blood group was recorded. Two rhesus (D) positive samples were overlooked, however, and 16.4% of the samples had to be retested because of irregular reaction patterns. Better results are to be expected with properly selected test cells and anti-D serum. The readout unit is easily operated and is not disturbed by clots. The additional equipment needed replaces the modules which were necessary for recording on filter paper.

The ABO and Rhesus blood groups of diabetic mothers and their newborn babies.

In 652 young female diabetics the ABO and Rhesus type distribution did not differ significantly from that of the control series. Subdivision of the patients according to White classes, presence of family predisposition, and ‘good’ or ‘bad’ obstetrical history also failed to demonstrate any significant deviations. In 375 (diabetic) mother/child pairs the segregation of the ABO and Rhesus types in the children were in accordance with the expected values except for a few, probably random, deviations found in the children of Rhesus negative mothers. The present material of young diabetics did not support the assumption of any correlation between the ABO and Rhesus types and diabetes mellitus. There was no evidence of increased fetal wastage associated with these blood types.

Influence of the parental Rhesus types on the segregation of genetic abnormalities.

Abstract. Following the observation that in families with elliptocytosis parental Rhesus types may influence the elliptocytosis segregation in the children, the hypothesis has been put forward that in families with other genetic abnormalities, abnormal segregations of the affections may be expected to depend to some extent on the parental Rhesus types. Influence of the Rhesus type of the normal mating partners on the carrier: non‐carrier segregation in the children has been demonstrated for abnormal serum cholinesterase and for the chromosomal translocation D/21. Children of normal E+ mating partners in families with abnormal cholinesterase were found to have an excess of non‐affected; when the normal mating‐partner is E‐ there is an excess of carriers. In families with D/21 translocation an excess of carriers was found when the normal parent is E+. In a pedigree with Wagner's syndrome no such influence could be demonstrated, the amount of genetic information available being, however, relatively small. In families with the nail‐patella syndrome the Rhesus types of both parents appeared to be important, together with the sex of the offspring. Mating types involving Ccee produce an excess of non‐affected children, those with CCee an excess of affected sons and a deficiency of affected daughters. Mating types with neither Ccee or CCee produce a relative excess of affected daughters.These and other phenomena appear to indicate that genetic abnormalities are to some extent balanced polymorphisms, the selective mechanism being most probably selective fertilization. Selections of this kind, caused by the genetic, rather than by the external environment, may be of importance in limiting the increase of the genetic load in man which is generally expected to occur in the near future.

Influence of the Parental Rhesus Types on the Segregation of Genetic Abnormalities

Influence of the Parental Rhesus Types on the Segregation of Genetic Abnormalities

Correlation between Ulcerative Colitis and Rh Blood Groups

Winstone, Henderson and Brooke1 did not find ulcerative colitis to be correlated with the ABO blood groups, secretor status, or the rhesus factor. Their Rh classification was, however, restricted to rhesus-positive and rhesus-negative, presumably based on the use of an anti-D serum only. When we recently examined 185 patients in whom ulcerative colitis had led to colectomy, we also did not find any particular relation to D status, but did find, considerably to our surprise, a definite correlation with the homozygous CC rhesus type. Using as controls Wiener's series of 1,071 New York Whites2, we obtained the results shown in Table 1.

Emergency Methods for Rhesus Group Determination

(RECEIVED FOR PUBLICATIONJULY 17,1950) Themostreliable method forRhesus group determination isprobably thestandard tubemethod(Landsteiner andWiener, 1941; Boorman, Dodd,andMollison, 1942; Taylor, 1943). Thistechnique hasonlyoneserious disadvantage: itmaytakeaslong astwohours toperform, although occasional high-avidity anti-D sera will give clearcutresults in30minutes orevenless. Foremergency Rhesus typing aconsiderably quicker procedure isdesirable. Rapidmethods whichhavebeendescribed include theChowncapillary tubetest (Chown, 1944;ChownandLewis, 1946) andthe Diamondslide test (Diamond andAbelson, 1945). Mollison, Mourant, andRace haverecommended centrifuging after tenminutes' incubation asa meansof accelerating agglutination inthetubemethod. Inpre-transfusion Rhesus grouping inthis laboratory, ithasbeenthepractice forsometimetousetheChownmethod.Theresults werechecked bythetube method carried outbyadifferent observer working inaseparate room.Whereboth tests wereinagreement, itwasassumed thatthecorrect result hadbeenfound: whenever discrepancies occurred, investigations wererepeated until noreasonable doubt remained. After several hundred parallel observations hadbeenmadeinthis way,itbecame clear that theChowntest, atanyratewiththetechnique inuse, was notaltogether satisfactory: bothfalse positive andfalse negative results wereoccasionally encountered. We therefore decided tocarry outanumber ofexperiments to trytodiscover thereasons forincorrect results intheChowntest, andtodetermine asfaraspossible theoptimum conditions forthetest. Atthesametimeatrial ofthe tubecentrifuging methodwasmadeinparallel withtheother twotechniques. Weaiminthis paper tocompare thereliability ofthree methods forRhesus group determination asusedinaroutine laboratory; todrawattention tosomesources of error intheChowntest ;andtodescribe theconditions inwhichsatisfactory results canbeobtained withthetubecentrifuging method. Methods TheChownTest.-A thick suspension ofcells intheir ownserum isobtained byshaking uptheremains ofaclotted specimen ofblood after mostoftheserumhasbeenremoved. This isallowed tofall through acolumn ofanti-D serum inacapillary tubesetupinasmall lumpofplasticine andinclined atanangle of45°.Approximately equal volumes ofcell suspension andanti-D serum areused. Thetest iscarried outatroomtemperature andread after 15minutes. Thistechnique issubstantially thesameasthat advocated byMollison et al. (1948). Standard vaccine capillary tubes havebeenusedinmostoftheexperiments, as