A Transfusion Reaction Due to a Dangerous Universal Donor

Since some controversy still exists as to whether a group O donor with an unusually high titer of isoagglutinins can be dangerous when his blood is transfused into a recipient of one of the other three groups, we report here a case in which the evidence seems particularly convincing that such universal donors can really be dangerous. A girl of 19 who had never been pregnant, belonging to blood group A, received 450 cc. of citrated whole blood of group O. No untoward signs were noticed during the transfusion, but forty-five minutes after completion of the transfusion the patient complained of a feeling of oppression and had a severe chill. The temperature rose somewhat over 102 F. Jaundice developed, and the icterus index had risen to 62 units within eighteen hours after the transfusion. During the next twenty-four hour period oliguria developed. The patient voided only 85 cc. of urine