IS ALLERGY SCREENING OF BLOOD-DONORS NECESSARY - A COMPARISON BETWEENQUESTIONNAIRE ANSWERS AND THE PRESENCE OF CIRCULATING IGE ANTIBODIES

We investigated 477 consecutive blood donors in order to find the pred ictive value of a questionnaire as a screening method for preventing p assive transfer of IgE antibodies to common allergens that might cause transfusion reactions. Of the 477 donors, 119 (24.9%) claimed to be a llergic and 358 (75.1%) recorded no allergic complaints. Serological e xamination with Phadiatop(R) and a multi-allergen mix for food (fx5) d etected IgE antibodies in only 54.5% of the allegedly alllergic blood donors. Among the allegedly asymptomatic donors, 12.3% showed positive results in these tests. Subsequently, radioallergosorbent test analys es with common inhalant and food allergens were performed to specify t he IgE responses obtained. Our results demonstrate a remarkable differ ence between the questionnaire answers and the serological measurement s of IgE antibodies and raise the question of whether - and if so, wha t kind of - allergy screening is warranted among presumptive blood don ors.