Even mismatched cord blood can help kids

Fri, Feb 13, 2009 (HealthDay News) — An umbilical cord blood transplant from an unrelated or unmatched donor can still help children with deadly conditions such as cancer and sickle cell anemia, Duke University Medical Center researchers report.

They noted that unrelated cord blood may be easier to obtain than adult bone marrow, which means more patients would be able to receive treatment.

"Our study found that using cord blood can be effective, without increased complications, and can provide more matches for patients, including ethnic minorities," lead investigator Dr. Vinod Prasad, a pediatric oncologist in the Duke Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, said in a university news release. "Based on the findings of our study, we believe that unrelated cord blood transplant should be considered as an option for many of our young patients in need of a transplant."

Prasad and colleagues analyzed data on 314 patients treated at Duke between 1993 and 2007. The patients, ages 6 months to 21 years, had malignant and non-malignant conditions.

"In order to match a donor to a recipient, doctors compare HLA typing, a test usually performed on a blood sample," Prasad explained. "In every individual, HLA typing includes the specific genetic make-up at three locations -- within those locations, you are looking at one set from the mother and one from the father, so it ends up to be a six-point comparison."

"In this analysis of children whose donor units were matched at four of six points, the transplant was successful in many patients, with low incidence of complications. Results were similar to those seen in patients receiving closer matched transplants. Thus the use of the 4/6 matched donors improved access to transplant for patients, especially those of ethnic and racial minorities," Prasad said.

The study was expected to be presented Friday at an American Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation meeting in Tampa, Fla.

"We have done a terrific job in this country of increasing the number of volunteer donors listed in the National Marrow Donor Program registry over the past several years," Prasad said. "But the fact remains that, for many patients, finding a matched donor can be difficult. Ethnic and racial minorities have the hardest time finding a fully matched donor."

-- Robert Preidt
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China milk contamination issue

Media conference audio - Andrew Ferrier on China milk contamination issue

Click here to listen.

Source: Fonterra
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Notice of voluntary product recall - ANMUM Materna

16 September 2008
Notice of voluntary product recall - ANMUM Materna Fonterra China today announced a voluntary recall of one batch of prenatal milk sold in China under the ANMUM Materna brand name.

This particular batch had been manufactured and distributed under licence by San Lu using what we believe to be contaminated local raw milk.

A company spokesman said this issue applies to the one batch of ANMUM Materna which was distributed in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan). None of the batch in question was exported out of China.

All other ANMUM and ANLENE products in the market have been produced using only 100% fully imported milk from New Zealand and are free from any possibility of contamination with melamine from locally sourced milk, and adhere to the strictest New Zealand and international standards.

Fonterra China said the stock was being recalled because consumer safety was the company’s utmost concern.

Source: Fonterra
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