Nationwide bone marrow sampling drive focuses on ethnic groups

A nationwide bone marrow sampling aimed at those with Caucasian and Middle Eastern ethnicity will be held at dozens of testing stations across Israel on Thursday.

The drive is organized by Ezer Mizion, which operates the country’s bone marrow registry. Although there have been drives in the past, this time organizers are specifically appealing to those who trace their roots to Yemen, Iraz, Bukhara, Caucasia, Georgia, Persia, Ethiopia, and Kurdistan.

Testing stations will be set up at 95 locations around the country, but in particular in communities with a high representation of the sought-after genetic backgrounds.

The registry possesses only a relatively small number of samples from those ethnic groups, and as a result some cancer patients who are in need of bone marrow transplants have low chances of finding a match.

Bone marrow transplants require a close genetic match to succeed and while testing and donating has wide acceptance in Western nations, it is still considered taboo in many others.

The campaign is being headed by several cancer patients in personal need of a bone marrow donor. Hanit Elbaz, 34, a mother of three of Yemenite extraction, suffers from leukemia; her chances of finding a match are slim due to the poor representation of Yemenite Jews in the bone marrow registry. Bar Sitan, 21, a community activist of Iraqi origin, has only months to live unless she can find a matching donor.

Organizers have enlisted the help of media outlets as well as community leaders and rabbis in order to bring home the message that testing for bone marrow transplants is painless and easy.

Dr. Bracha Zisser, director of the bone marrow bank at Ezer Mizion, explained that research has shown that a large part of the problem in the target population is a lack of understanding of what is involved in the testing process, as well as a fear of donating bone marrow.

“I hope that they will overcome their fear and understand that it is easy to save lives,” she said, noting that medical advances mean that bone marrow transplants are now similar to blood donations and can be completed in about four hours.

The IDF recently began offering newly inducted soldiers the opportunity to test of bone marrow transplants during their first days in the army.

Ezer Mizion is also hoping to raise funds to help pay for the testing. Although samples are taken with a simple saliva swab, the cost of each test is NIS 250. The organization hopes that over 10,000 people will come in for testing.