Thimerosal dependent agglutination, a newly described blood bank problem

Area of Science:

• Transfusion Medicine
• Immunology
• Blood Banking Reagents

Background:

• Chemicals in blood bank reagents can cause issues with ABO grouping, Rh typing, antibody screening, and identification.
• Preservatives like thimerosal are used in certain low-ionic strength reagents.

Observation:

• A new agglutination phenomenon was observed in the serum of a blood donor.
• This phenomenon occurred specifically in test systems containing thimerosal.

Findings:

• A thimerosal-dependent agglutinin was identified, behaving similarly to an IgG autoantibody.
• Agglutination was only present when test cells were incubated with thimerosal; it was absent otherwise.

Implications:

• This finding highlights a potential interference in blood testing due to reagent preservatives.
• Further investigation is needed to understand the clinical significance and prevalence of this agglutinin.