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Show BLOOD CENTER TELLS HEED Intermountain regional blood center officials indicated today 1S2S pints of "acceptable" blood had been processed for the first two weeks of February. At this rate, the center would possibly meet its 40Q0-monthly quota, assigned as the area's "fair share" of a national quota of 5.000,000 pints. The 5,000,000-pint 1953 quota is necessary to met Red Cross commitments com-mitments to supply blood for Korea, other defense purposes, local hospitals hos-pitals and for the organization's new role supplying blood in gamma globulin form used to retard paralysis paral-ysis in polio. Gamma globulin has become the new hope for children exposed to polio epidemics each year. Recent experiments sponsored by the National Foundation of Infantile In-fantile Paralysis have demonstrated demonstrat-ed that gamma globulin, produced from the pooled blood of many persons contains important antibodies. anti-bodies. A dose of serum, which requires approximately one pint of blood to produce, protects against the paralyzing effects of polio for about one month, if injected after exposure ex-posure to the disease, but before the virus has reached the nerve tissue. Last November, the Red Cross was asked by the office of defense mobilization to expand its defense blood collections to produce as much gamma globulin for summer's sum-mer's epidemic needs as blood processing pro-cessing centers can turn out. Past experience indicates that the disease will reach epidemic proportions pro-portions in about 150 counties and that some two million children will become exposed to it. - Since the amount of globulin needed will far exceed the expected supply, its allocation and distribution distri-bution will be handled in a manner man-ner determined by ODM and the National Research Council. The Red Cross is not undertaking this part of the job. The Red Cross must also continue to collect blood to meet the need of civilian hospitals, of Korean wounded, and of the nation's plasma reserve. The total program will require approximately 5,000,000 pints of blood and will cost the Red Cross about $16,833.00 next year. |