China capital seeks "rare" blood for Olympics inrush

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's capital on Wednesday urged residents with a blood type rare among Chinese people but common among Caucasians and many Africans to donate blood as it seeks to stockpile reserves for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Roughly 15 percent of Caucasians and 10 percent of black Africans -- and so a large number of visitors due to attend the Games -- have Rh negative blood, with the rest Rh positive.

But only 0.3 percent of China's dominant Han ethnic group are Rh negative, creating a headache for city Red Cross officials seeking to set aside 800 sachets each with 200 milliliters of the blood for Games medical needs, the Xinhua news agency reported.

"Finding and storing adequate quantities of this blood type is exceedingly difficult," Xinhua noted.

Transfusions can cause toxic reactions unless blood matches a patient's Rh type, a reference to a grouping feature of blood first found in Rhesus monkeys, and O, A, B or AB grouping.

China is making intense preparations to ensure that the Olympics showcase its brightest achievements and avoid mishaps over health and food safety that have recently clouded its image.

The Beijing Red Cross had stockpiles of about half the Rh negative blood it would need for the event, and a Chinese television star, Yang Lan, had been brought out to urge more people to contribute with more donations, Xinhua reported.

China's supply of clinical blood has been tainted by HIV and other potentially deadly diseases, and in the past decade the government has sought to stamp out reckless commercial blood-selling in favor of voluntary giving.

Xinhua said that all of the national capital's blood stocks were now freely donated. But many employers, especially government offices and the military, expect staff to give blood.