NEW ANTIBODY (ANTI-RhB) RESULTING FROM BLOOD TRANSFUSION IN AN Rh-POSITIVE PATIENT

Abstract

A woman, aged 57, received four blood transfusions at various times during a period of three months before, during, and after surgery. Before each transfusion the prospective donor's blood was shown to be compatible by an unusually elaborate series of tests; yet the first two transfusions were followed by chills and fever, presumably because of some unrecognizable incompatibility. The results led the authors to the conclusion that in Rh-positive blood, associated with the Rh_ofactor, there are other blood factors which they designate Rh^A, Rh^B, Rh^C, etc. The complications in this case could be explained when it became possible to demonstrate in the patient's serum the presence of a new antibody, which they designate as anti-Rh^B.