Out for Blood

The Department of Defense and the American Red Cross were out for blood last week. Press, radio, television and posters carried repeated appeals for blood donors. The fact behind the flurry was that U.S. armed forces are running short of blood and plasma. "We have enough whole blood on hand for about one week of heavy fighting," said an Army medic in Tokyo.

When the Korea fighting was at its worst last winter, U.S. civilians gave blood at the rate of 25,000 pints a week. During the summer, the rate dropped below 10,000. Two things have given the public the wrong idea that blood is no longer urgently needed: 1) the letdown in Korea during armistice talks,* and 2) the publicity given to so-called blood-plasma "substitutes." At the same time, medics in Korea have been pouring three times as much blood and plasma into the wounded as in World War II because they have found that using more of it saves more lives.

There is not, and cannot be, a substitute for whole blood, because it contains living cells. And whole blood is best for the wounded and for most victims of shock. But whole blood cannot be stored more than three weeks and cannot be given on the battlefield, so doctors use plasma (the blood fluid from which the cells have been removed) for first aid. Plasma will keep for years. As an emergency treatment for shock, doctors use plasma "extenders" such as salt solution, gelatine or Dextran. None of these contains the complex chemicals found in plasma, and none would be used if there were enough plasma to go around.

While the Red Cross is whipping up its blood donors, the armed forces have started collecting blood from servicemen. Last week Admiral William Fechteler sent a crackling "Well done" to the aircraft carrier Boxer, whose sailors and flyers gave 2,377 pints of blood in the midst of combat operations off Korea. U.S. civilians rated no such "Well done"; it was mainly because of servicemen's donations that the week's total topped 49,000 pints, and this was still far short of the goal: 75,000 pints a week until July 1.

*When the number of U.S. wounded averaged only 300 a week; last week, 1,380 were reported.

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