The evolution of immunohematology in South Asian countries

Many factors have resulted in the slow development of transfusion services in some South Asian countries. Despite difficulties, there have been some excellent developments and the outlook for the future is very positive. The biggest problems relate to the availability of the truly voluntary altruistic blood donors and considerable work is still needed to upgrade this aspect of the work. Screening for transfusion transmissible diseases is now widespread although there is still a requirement to enhance quality assurance procedures and to improve statistical definitions and collection. Other factors that have affected the evolution of immunohematology are outlined and there is now optimism for the future

Road blocks in achieving a 100% voluntary blood donation rate in the South Asian region

Voluntary blood donation rates are not high in the South Asian region, except in a few countries. The reasons for this are outlined and the roadblocks for improvement of the situation noted. The need for increased planning, both regionally and nationally, is emphasized and some factors that inhibit voluntary blood donation are mentioned. There is a real need to move from a system of reliance on ′replacement′ donors to a fully nonremunerated voluntary blood donation system, and the examples and lessons from successful countries should be carefully studied

Road blocks in achieving a 100% voluntary blood donation rate in the South Asian region

Voluntary blood donation rates are not high in the South Asian region, except in a few countries. The reasons for this are outlined and the roadblocks for improvement of the situation noted. The need for increased planning, both regionally and nationally, is emphasized and some factors that inhibit voluntary blood donation are mentioned. There is a real need to move from a system of reliance on ‘replacement’ donors to a fully nonremunerated voluntary blood donation system, and the examples and lessons from successful countries should be carefully studied

A high incidence of polymorphic <it>CYP2C19 </it>variants in archival blood samples from Papua New Guinea

<p>Abstract</p> <p>There is considerable inter-ethnic variability in the incidence of <it>CYP2C19 </it>genetic poor metabolisers <it>(var/var)</it>. About 3 per cent of Caucasians are <it>CYP2C19 var/var</it>. By contrast, an extremely high incidence (70 per cent) is observed in the Melanesian island of Vanuatu. The colonisation of the Pacific Islands is believed to have involved migration through Papua New Guinea (PNG), and hence a high incidence may also be expected in this population. The reported incidence in PNG was only 36 per cent, however. PNG is a country of extensive ethnic diversity, and the incidence of the <it>CYP2C19 var/var </it>in other regional populations of PNG is currently not established. In this study, restriction fragment length polymorphism-polymerase chain reaction analysis of archival blood serum samples was used to determine the prevalence of the <it>CYP2C19*2 </it>and <it>*3 </it>variant alleles in three different ethnic and geographically isolated populations of PNG. In the largest population studied (Iruna), the frequency of both variant <it>CYP2C19 </it>alleles was high (0.37 and 0.34, respectively). Specifically, the frequency of the <it>CYP2C19*3 </it>allele was significantly higher than in the PNG (East Sepik) population reported previously (0.34 vs 0.16; <it>p <</it>0.0001). In the Iruna population, 48.9 per cent of the samples were homozygous variants for <it>CYP2C19*2 </it>or <it>*3</it>, which although higher was not statistically different from the East Sepik population (36 per cent). The results of this study indicated that other regional populations of PNG also have a relatively high incidence of the <it>CYP2C19 </it>genetic polymorphism compared with Caucasian populations. The high incidence reported in Vanuatu, however, may be due to genetic drift rather than a PNG founder population, as the Vanuatu population is dominated by the <it>CYP2C19*2 </it>allele, with a lower contribution from the <it>*3 </it>allelic variant.</p