Mixed reagents for the Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency fluorescent screening test were freeze-dried in plastic tubes. The reagents were then reconstituted with distilled water and the test was performed in the usual way. Initial testing with the freeze-dried mixed reagents gave consistent positive reaction to 12 normal blood samples and negative reaction to 9 G6PD deficient blood samples. This will enable a laboratory with freeze-drying facilities to prepare reagent tubes in bulk. As these tubes can be kept at 4 degrees C and do not require to be stored at -20 degrees C, a major laboratory can prepare these tubes and supply small laboratories for screening purposes.
Health care workers have been reported to constitute one of the few high-risk groups related to IgE-mediated hypersensitivity associated with the use of latex products. This paper describes the first ever study of prevalence carried out in Malaysia among these workers. One hundred and thirty health care personnel from Hospital Kuala Lumpur were skin tested. Extracts used were prepared from seven different brands of natural rubber latex gloves with varying levels of extractable protein (EPRRIM). Out of the 130 volunteers, 4 (3.1%) had positive skin test to latex with extracts with high levels of EPRRIM (> 0.7 mg/g). The prevalence among the Malaysian health care workers can be considered to be low in comparison to that of some consumer countries as the USA which reported a prevalence of as high as 16.9%.
The applications of antibodies, be it monoclonal or polyclonal, in the diagnostic and research fields are well established. The disadvantage is the high cost of commercially available antibodies. In a diagnostic establishment like ours which also functions as a training ground for laboratory related personnel, it is beneficial to be able to produce in-house reagents. Therefore, we have undertaken this project to produce a rabbit polyclonal antibody against B lymphocytes. We found that the rabbit was a good choice because the titre of antibody produced was high and positive reactions were still detected at a dilution of 1:38400. The antibody showed significant positive reaction only with the lymphocyte subpopulation. A positive reaction was observed between the immunized rabbit serum and B lymphocytes but not T lymphocytes. This shows that the antibody was B lymphocyte specific. There was a positive correlation between the percentage of B lymphocytes labelled using the commercial anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody and the in-house polyclonal antibody (n = 13, r = 0.7, p = 0.02). However, the percentage of cells labelled by the in-house polyclonal anti-B was lower than that by the commercial monoclonal anti-CD19. The fluorescence intensity of the polyclonal antibody was lower than that of the monoclonal. In general, the performance of the in-house polyclonal antibody can be considered as satisfactory. The rabbit serum was stored at -20 degrees C and no significant loss of activity was detected for over a period of 19 months.