Scary

Scary! Fake Blood Holds Promise 6-27-08

I'll Take a Large Regular...

In a scene reminiscent of choosing between regular and decaf, emergency medical personnel may soon choose between real and "fake" blood.

In this case, the "fake" blood is a blood substitute known as HBOC-201. It's manufactured by Biopure Corporation and is derived from bovine sources that are subjected to multiple purification procedures. HBOC-201 has a couple significant advantages over whole blood in emergency situations: it can be stores at room temperature for up to 3 years; and, it does not need to be matched to a patient's blood type, which can greatly reduce the time required to administer blood.

But, is it safe?

"The majority of patients who received the blood substitute did well," said Dr. Jonathan Jahr, study lead author and professor of clinical anesthesiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

The UCLA scientists studied close to 700 adults who were undergoing elective orthopedic surgeries. One group received the HBOC-201 substitute and the other group received whole blood transfusions. The results were... mixed.

For those patients over 80 years of age, the HBOC-201 appears to be a choice of last resort only. Numerous problems with cardiac and central nervous system issues occurred in the older group of patients. "For this specific older acute patient population, we suggest using a blood substitute only if blood is not available," said Dr. A. Gerson Greenburg, study author and vice president, medical affairs, Biopure Corporation.

There were also issues for the younger patients, but not as severe. These included skin discoloration, elevated blood pressure and increased levels of certain enzymes. "Although these temporary side effects didn't lead to any clinical problems in most patients, these should be studied in future trials," said Jahr.

Will blood substitute products become the norm in the future? Maybe - but, it does seem quite certain they'll play an important role, especially in emergency situations

So, what's your choice - regular or HBOC-201?

To read more about the study, see this from ScienceDaily. To read about the history of blood substitutes, see this from eMedicine.

I am having flashbacks again to Will Smith in a bath tub with a gun and his German Shepherd! Right out of the movie I Am Legend, comes this article.

We are not designed to be compatible with any other human, let alone another species. It surprises me they don't have to use anti-rejection medications with these test subjects. This scenario provides an unprecedented, history making, opportunity, to allow all sorts of animal viruses to jump to the human population. Let see, what has been on the list so far? The "short" list: H5N1, H2N2, H3N2, Anthrax, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, Brucellosis, Borrelia (Lyme disease and others), Borna, tuberculosis, Campylobacteriosis, Chagas disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob /Mad cow disease", Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Cryptosporidiosis, Cutaneous larva migrans, Dengue Fever, Ebola, Echinococcosis, Hantavirus, Hendra virus, Henipavirus, Korean hemorrhagic fever, Lábrea fever, Lassa fever, Leishmaniasis, Leptospirosis, Listeriosis, Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, Malaria, Marburg virus, Monkey B virus, Nipah virus, Ocular larva migrans, Ornithosis (psittacosis), Orf (animal disease), Oropouche fever, Plague, Q-Fever, Psittacosis, also called "parrot fever", Rabies, Rift Valley fever, Salmonellosis, Sodoku, Toxoplasmosis, Trichinosis, Tularemia, also called "Rabbit Fever", Typhus and other Rickettsial diseases, Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever, Visceral larva migrans, Yellow fever and All Forms of Cancer.

Can you imagine what other diseases we could come up with by accident, when we start to treat animals as our own spare parts store? This latest salmonella scare, how does it correspond with the testing of this product? We were not made to, nor ever intended to play God.