ABO and Rhesus (Rh) blood group antigens are hereditary characters and are useful in population genetic studies, in resolving medico-legal issues and more importantly in compatibility test in blood transfusion practice. Data on frequency distribution of ABO and Rh-D in Niger-Delta region of Nigeria are not available; hence we made an attempt to retrospectively analyze the records on the blood donors, transfusion recipients and patients attending antenatal care or some other medical interventions. Over a twenty-year period between 1986 and 2005, a total of 160,431 blood samples were grouped for ABO and Rh-D at the blood bank of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria. Blood group distribution among these samples showed phenotypes A, B, AB and O as 23.72%, 20.09%, 2.97% and 53.22%, respectively. The Rh-D negative phenotype was found among 6.01% of the samples tested.

Iron overload contributes to increased transplant-related mortality, and serum ferritin is typically used to detect iron overload. Other iron parameters have received limited attention. We studied serum ferritin, transferrin, transferrin saturation, iron, soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in 230 consecutive patients undergoing myeloablative allo-SCT. All iron parameters were significantly associated with survival. When analyzed individually, both sTfR and transferrin saturation were superior in prognostic power to ferritin (areas under the curve in receiver operating characteristic analysis: 0.670, 0.715, and 0.657, respectively). A combination of ferritin and transferrin saturation had the highest prognostic power: Patients with ferritin below the 30th percentile (<802 ng/mL) showed excellent survival (70±6% at 5 years), while transferrin saturation above the 80th percentile (≥69%) pointed to a high risk of transplant failure (5-year survival 5±5%). The remaining patients showed an intermediate outcome (5-year survival 52±5%). The prognostic impact of iron parameters was independent of other factors such as stage, conditioning regimen and CRP level, and operated similarly across diseases. Iron overload strongly influenced the outcome of allo-SCT. Low pre-transplant ferritin levels indicate a population at low risk, high transferrin saturations and a subgroup of patients with very poor outcome.

Blood transfusion is associated with the development of alloantibodies. Routine blood grouping for multi-transfused patients with SCA should be extended to include other blood group antigens in addition to Rhesus D and ABO antigens.

Sixty patients were prospectively studied with the aim of analyzing the clinical and laboratory features and outcome of patients diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) in a major referral center in Niger Delta region of Nigeria for 10 years (1995-2005). The peripheral blood, bone marrow cytology, clinical features and stage at diagnosis were studied. Treatment modalities, response to treatment and survival outcome of the patients were analysed. Sixty patients (15 men and 45 women) were seen, with female preponderance (M : F ratio,1 : 3). The CLL incidence was 36.4% of total leukaemias. The median age was 56 years with peak age group at 51-60 years while 15% were below 40 years. Major clinical findings include lymphadenopathy (91.7%), anaemia (58.3%), abdominal swelling (58.3%), and splenomegaly (50%) with 53 patients (88.3%) presenting as International (Binet) stage B and C while only seven patients (11.7%) were seen in stage A. The least clinical presentation includes Richter's syndrome in 3.3% of cases and herpes Zoster skin manifestations in two patients (3.3%). There was a strong association between the blood counts at diagnosis and outcome of therapy. The 2-year survival for young (<55 years) and older (>55 years) CLL patients was 27.2% and 28.9%, respectively, which is still very poor because of a number of strong limiting factors. CLL is not rare in Southern Nigeria and its presentations are similar to cases seen worldwide. Contrary to existing literature a female predominance was observed in this study with majority of patients seeking medical intervention late. It is therefore recommended that future research into the genetic make up/HLA typing of patients of African descent is needed to clarify some of the differences observed.

Background:The prevalence of anemia in HIV/ AIDS patients is high, with a multitude of possible etiologies; autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) in HIV/AIDS patients has been associated with a poor prognosis when treated with red cell transfusion. Our aim was to demonstrate the frequency of AIHA in a cohort of adult Nigerian HIV/AIDS patients and to see if the presence or not of AIHA is related to the severity of the disease with regards to the CD4 counts and the presence or absence of opportunistic infections. Method: Ninety-eight adult patients with HIV infection were screened for the presence of AIHA using the packed cell volume (PCV), direct antiglobulin test (DAT) and reticulocyte count (RC). Results: The frequency of AIHA was 3.06%, 36.74% of our study population were anemic; 11.22% had a positive DAT. Mean RC was 2.22 +/ 0.90 for all the patients. There was no statistically significant difference in the PCV of patients that had positive and negative DAT. There was no correlation between the presence of AIHA, use of ART, presence of opportunistic infections or CD4 counts. Conclusion:We conclude that in spite of the low frequency of AIHA in HIV/AIDS patients, the fact that most patients will respond to standard treatment makes it imperative to screen HIV/AIDS patients with anemia for the presence of AIHA. Again since HIV/AIDS patients with AIHA may have a fatal reaction to red cell transfusion, we suggest that anemic patients with HIV/AIDS in non-emergency situations be screened for the presence of AIHA before receiving red cell transfusions when indicated. Key words: Autoimmune, anemia, hemolysis, HIV/AIDS RésuméCulture générale: Il y a trop de fréquence d'anémie parmi les malades sero-positifs ou les malades atteints de sida, souvent accompagne d'un grand nombres d'aetiologies: anémie haemolylique autoimmuno (AHAI) parmi les malades sero-positifs est directement lie a une mauvaise pronostic, surtout quand on fait le traitement avec une transformation du globule rouge. Notre objectif est de démontrer la fréquence de (AHAI) parmi un nombre d'adultes nigérians sero-positifs ou qui sont atteints du sida. C'est aussi de vérifier si la présence ou l'absence de (AHAI) est lie directement lie a la gravite de la maladie, de la maladie surtout quand il s'agit de la numération CD4 et de la présence ou absence des infections opportunistic. Modalité: À l'aide de l'analyse directe antiglobulin (ADA) et la numération réticulocyte (NR) et le packed cell volume (PCV) ; quatre-vingt-dix-huit malades sero-positifs, ont passé un test de dépistage pour vérifier la présence de (AHAI) Résultat: La fréquence de (AHAI) était 3.06%, 36.74% de notre population était anémique ; 11.22% était positif de l'analyse antiglobulin.Pour la numération reticulocy, la moyenne était 2.22+\-0.90 pour tous les malades, on n'a trouvé aucune différence qui est statistiquement significatif parmi les malades Autoimmune haemolytic anemia in HIV patients. Olayemi E. et al.Page | 73 positif de (ADA) et négatif de (ADA). Il n y avait aucun rappor...

Background:The cause of chronic leg ulcer (CLU) in patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA) is unknown; it has been attributed to hypercoagulability associated with the disease. Recently, it has been suggested that a subset of SCA patients may be prone to developing CLU and that hemolysis may be an underlying factor in the development of CLU. The lupus anticoagulant (LA) is an antiphospholipid antibody (aPLa), these antibodies have been described in patients with SCA.Aims:This study was designed to determine the frequency of LA in SCA patients with CLU compared with those without CLU.Materials and Methods:Study design is a descriptive, cross-sectional one. Thirty-three SCA patients with CLU and 33 patients without CLU were screened for the presence of LA using the Kaolin clotting time (KCT), which is an important assay, and Kaolin clotting time index was calculated. Means were compared using the students' t test, proportions were compared using the chi-square test, level of significance was set at 0.05, odds ratio was calculated.Results:About 18.18% of patients with CLU had LA, compared with 6.06% among controls (P < 0.05); odds ratio was 3.44 (95% CI 0.64 – 18.51).Conclusions:We conclude that SCA patients with CLU may be more likely to develop LA, and this may be related to the degree of hemolysis. Further studies are required to find out if CLU and LA are a result of hemolysis or if LA is responsible for the higher incidence of hemolysis and CLU found among these patients.

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