The Thymol Turbidity Test in Screening of Blood Donors

Abstract

Thymol turbidity tests were performed on blood from 14,755 donors. Serum from 567 of these persons had values for thymol turbidity that were greater than 8 Shank-Hoagland units (3.8 per cent). Follow-up examinations of 193 recipients of whole blood from donors with a thymol turbidity that was greater than 8 units revealed 10 patients with serum hepatitis and 5 with possible serum hepatitis. In a control group of 603 recipients of blood from donors whose values for thymol turbidity of serum were normal or not known, follow-up examinations revealed no instances of serum hepatitis and 2 instances of possible hepatitis. The hazard of serum hepatitis is greatly increased when blood is transfused from donors whose serums have significantly abnormal values for thymol turbidity. The discussion deals with the value of this test as a means of decreasing the hazard of transmitting serum hepatitis.