Saliva Test to be Used for Bone Marrow Matches

The leukemia charity, Anthony Nolan Trust, is to encourage people to spit so as to use saliva for matching bone marrows. The charity hopes that this measure will help double the number of lives saved. The process is also pretty simple. People who want to register with the charity will be sent the saliva kits. They just have to fill a questionnaire, spit into the tube and send it back.

"Ultimately, this is about saving more lives. Anthony Nolan provides two potentially lifesaving transplants every day, but there is an equal number that we can't currently help,” said Henny Braund, chief executive of Anthony Nolan. "We urgently need to increase the number of people on our register, and saliva testing will help us do that much more quickly and effectively."

The charity’s research team has found that saliva tests are just as effective as blood typing. The charity has already run a pilot program that has seen 5,000 people join its register.




Source-Medindia