Leukemia sufferers in China and the US will have a greater chance of survival as a result of a new bone marrow exchange program, said a Chinese official on Tuesday.

 

Hong Junling, director of the China Marrow Donor Program (CMDP), told Xinhua that a cooperative agreement was signed Monday between the CMDP and the national marrow donor organization of the US, to establish an information-shared system.

 

"With the help of the system, we can easily find out whether the other side has the right type of bone marrow needed by patients, so that we can carry out a transplant as soon as possible," Hong said.

 

He noted the exchange also aims to help overseas Chinese leukemia victims. Statistics showed that the US now has a population of 2.8 million American Chinese, of which the number of leukemia patients is increasing by 100 every year.

 

Hong said the US national bone marrow program, which ranks the largest in the world, holds data of nearly six million donors. However, donors of the Chinese origin totaled only 28,000 and the number of donors does not meet the surging demand of patients.

 

According to medical rules, the chance of a leukemia sufferer finding one suitable donor is about one to ten thousand or even less.

 

"What's worse, leukemia victims of the Chinese origin can hardly find matching bone marrow in the US marrow donor bank due to the genetic difference between different human races," he added.

 

Latest statistics from the CMDP showed that China has so far had more than 360,000 marrow donors available for patient search use included in the CMDP, a national marrow project initiated in 2001.

 

"Therefore, the exchange will help them find a bone marrow match that could save their life," Hong added.

 

Guo Changjiang, vice president of the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) that initiated the CMDP, said that the organization has successfully donated twice for two American Chinese before.

 

Hong also disclosed that the CMDP planned to increase the number of donors to about one million by 2010, which means about 80 percent of Chinese leukemia suffers may have the chance to find a match.

 

By late July, 2005, CMDP had established 30-provincial branches, 25 Human leucocyte antigen laboratories and a quality control laboratory.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2006)