13 The Significance of Non-A, Non-B Hepatitis, Cytomegalovirus and the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in Transfusion Practice

Blood component therapy

The emergency physician must have a solid understanding of the use of blood products. This article discusses how to order various blood products, problems with storage, when to administer them, what special equipment is necessary, and possible complications of their use. Special attention is paid to the many different components that are available for specific indications.

Detection of antibody to cytomegalovirus-induced early antigens and comparison with four serologic assays and presence of viruria in blood donors

Five hundred blood donors were evaluated for cytomegalovirus (CMV) viruria, antibody to CMV early antigens (EA-ab), CMV seropositivity by two screening assays, and CMV-specific immunoglobulin M by two methods. Three donors were viruric, EA-ab positive, and seropositive; two viruric donors were immunoglobulin M positive.

Development of a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detecting cytomegalovirus antibody

A competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting cytomegalovirus (CMV) antibody was developed. The competitive ELISA was five times more sensitive than the complement fixation test (CFT) and twice as sensitive as indirect ELISA. Testing of paired sera from cardiac transplant patients taken before and after transplantation showed good correlation between results of competitive and indirect ELISA and CFT. The competitive ELISA was more successful than CFT or indirect ELISA in detecting passively acquired antibody, but detection of CMV antibody by competitive ELISA immediately after primary CMV infection was unreliable, possibly because of the high affinity of the monoclonal antibody chosen for the horseradish peroxidase conjugate. However, competitive ELISA may well prove to be more suitable than indirect ELISA for detecting CMV antibody in blood donations.