<<Disclaimer:  Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
Rob,
        I am a Specialist in Blood Banking and work at the transfusion
service at University of California in San Francisco. I mention this so
that you can know that what I say comes with some attority. Blood Banking
is my business, it is not the business of doctors as much as it is for
me.
        Anyway, what you describe is a serious situation for your
daughter and I would highly recommend that she wear a medalert bracelet.
There is no way that her IgA deficiency would be picked up by routine
blood bank testing for transfusion. If she had formed antibodies to IgA,
it would not take much IgA containing plasma for her to have a sever,
possibly anaphylatic reaction.
        You are correst in your assertion that she could never recieve
whole bool unless it was her own blood or from another IgA deficient
donor. The same would hold true for any plasma product. If she were to
need fresh frozen plasma or platelets, they would have to come from an
IgA donor. Sometimes platelets are washed in saline to remove the plasma
for cases like this or for other patients that should not recieve the
plasma for other reasons. Actually, she culd recieve blood that has been
wased with  saline prior to transfusion to remove the plasma. This type
of a product may not be readily available in the smaller blood banks, but
there shouldn't be any problem getting washed red blood cells at the
larger hospitals.
        If you have any other questions, concerns or would like some
reference information about this, please do not hesitate to contact me.
        Ellen Eagan
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