Man whose blood saved 2.4 million babies dies at 88

An Australian known as the "Man with the Golden Arm" for protecting 2.4 million babies with his rare, antibody-rich blood plasma, has died at 88, health officials said.

James Harrison rolled up his sleeve and donated blood 1,173 times over 64 years, Red Cross organization Lifeblood said.

His plasma contained a rare antibody, known as Anti-D, used to make a medication for mothers whose blood was at risk of attacking their unborn babies -- known as rhesus D haemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn, or HDFN.

While it is impossible to know how many babies would have died without Anti-D protection, HDFN affected as many as 1 in 100 women until 1966, government data shows.

Of Harrison's 1,173 donations, 1,163 were from his right arm and 10 from his left, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. His blood was used to make 2.4 million doses of medication.

Harrison died in his sleep at a nursing home on the New South Wales Central Coast on February 17.

Meanwhile, a heavily populated stretch of Australia's eastern coast battened down yesterday for what could be the first tropical cyclone to pummel the region in 50 years.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred was likely to cross the coast late tomorrow or early Friday, striking land between metropolitan Brisbane and the tourist haven of the Sunshine Coast, the Bureau of Meteorology forecast.

It would be the first tropical cyclone to make landfall in that part of Australia since 1974, the bureau said.

Some three million people live along the 100-kilometer stretch linking Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, a region known for its balmy weather and golden beaches.

Agence France-Presse