Incidence of Rh anti-E and anti-c production among Japanese after blood transfusion.

The incidence of Rh anti-E antibody production due to blood transfusion in the patients who were Rh E negative and were transfused with more than one unit (200 ml) of E positive red blood cells was examined. The anti-E was detected in 17 (4.7%) out of 360 patients. The incidence of anti-E was significantly higher in the patients who had previously received transfusion than in those who had not. By a similar method, the anti-c was detected in 4 (1.4%) out of 284 patients. The incidence of anti-E and anti-c production among the Japanese receiving blood transfusion at random is estimated to be 1.17% and 0.35%, respectively.