Minority and diverse populations, therefore, play a critical role in meeting the constant need for blood. Types O negative and O positive are in high demand. However, the need for O negative blood is the highest because it is used most often during emergencies.
The universal red cell donor has Type O negative blood. The universal plasma donor has Type AB blood. For more about plasma donation, visit the plasma donation facts.
Nearly 21 million blood components are transfused each year in the U. There are more than other known antigens, the presence or absence of which creates " rare blood types. If you somehow lack an antigen that Like eye color, blood type is passed genetically from your parents.
Whether your blood group is type A, B, AB or O is based on the blood types of your mother and father. Testing difficulties can cause exceptions to the above patterns. Antigens are various kinds of sugars and proteins on the surface of our cells, including our blood cells. Altogether there are eight main blood types. You probably already knew that. The main blood types are:. Your blood type is determined by the presence or absence of certain antigens on the surface of your red blood cells.
These are produced in the first few years of your life in response to food, bacteria and viruses which you encounter. Antibodies are specialised immune proteins that are produced based on the antigens that are not present on your red blood cells. For example, if you have A antigens, you will develop only anti-B antibodies.
Could my blood type change? Most of your red blood cells are made in your bone marrow. This means that if you receive a bone marrow transplant from someone with a different blood type to you, your blood type will eventually change to the donor's type. Alarm bells will start ringing figuratively speaking , your immune system will go into attack mode, and antibodies will be produced to fight off the unfamiliar visitors.
Say, my stepdad, who has O-type blood, needed a blood transfusion. What would happen if he received my B type blood? Having O type blood, remember, means that he has no A or B antigens on the surface of his red blood cells.
If my cells, with their B antigens, were introduced into his body, his immune system would identify them as foreign, producing antibodies to provide immunity against them. Antibodies attack by binding to the foreign antigens, making the red blood cells clump together. But if he needed a larger-scale transfusion, his kidneys might not be able to cope.
The result could be kidney failure and, potentially, death. What about if the situation is reversed? Could my stepdad donate his blood to me? In fact, because it has no A or B antigens at all, O negative blood can be donated to anyone, regardless of blood type. Before blood types were discovered in by the Austrian scientist Karl Landsteiner for which he was later awarded the Nobel Prize , early attempts at blood transfusions, often using incompatible blood, frequently ended in disaster.
Later transfusion experiments used milk, water and even oil as blood substitutes! Interactive Who could safely receive my blood? Select a blood type from the dropdown menu to find out who it could be donated to.
The Stanford Blood Center provides these statistics. So if a woman with OO alleles has a baby with a man who has BB alleles, the baby will have a B blood type. Can a baby ever have a blood type different from its parents? What other combinations can occur? Emory University School of Medicine put together this chart:. Your Rh factor is also inherited, and like your blood type, you inherit one of two Rh alleles from each parent. So a baby receiving an Rh positive allele from each parent will be Rh positive, and one receiving a negative Rh allele from each parent will be Rh negative.
Whether or not your baby will be Rh positive or negative will depend on what is also passed down by the other parent. Squires , MD, Ph. I know that I am blood group A, but if I need blood, tests are going to be done first to make sure of my type and that safe red blood cell units are selected for my transfusion. According to Memorial Blood Centers , safe combinations include:.
Without any antigens or Rh D factor, O- blood is compatible with all other blood types. According to the American Red Cross , every two seconds someone in this country needs a blood transfusion. That makes blood donations particularly critical. Squires urges. That would mean no surgeries, no transplants, and no treatment for traumas.
Can your blood type make you prone to certain diseases? What might some of those health outcomes be?
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