Whole blood shipment from North America to Hong Kong

July 6, 2005 4:59 AM

Hello, anyone have experience shipping human blood (for research) from North America to Hong Kong? Who is the best courier to use, best packing method used, problems encountered, etc?

Toronto to Clearwater Bay, Hong Kong.
Total of 2.5L of whole blood. Must be kept above freezing. Optimal temp would be 4C. I understand that shipping will take 3 days. Thanks!

posted by strangelove to Science & Nature (3 answers total)

I've shipped frozen cells overseas via World Courier. They're not cheap, but they do just about any sort of shipment you might want for biological materials, and provide all the packaging, ice, dry ice, liquid nitrogen or whatever, and pick-up at your location. And they've got an office in Toronto. I imagine they could even do a 1-day shipment to Hong Kong if that's what you want.

I've also had whole blood shipped to me (1-2 day delivery by domestic courier) at ambient temperature for the purposes of purifying and culturing leukocytes and had no problems.

The anticoagulant you want to use will depend on the intended purpose.
posted by shoos at 6:39 AM on July 6, 2005

I'm sure that you could find someone at Mount Sinai, Toronto General, or Sick Kids who could tell you how they handle this.
posted by winston at 9:17 AM on July 6, 2005

World Courier is a good outfit but they are expensive. The regular express couriers (FedEx, UPS) can deliver something shipped from your location on Monday to Hong Kong on Thursday. The transit time may be slightly longer if you ship nearer the weekend.
posted by Carbolic at 11:13 AM on July 6, 2005