Blood types - a question for our Doctors & Medics

[sandbender]

Hello all.

A question about blood types.

My blood type is...

O Rh(D) Negative

I am curious about the (D) in that text, am I correct in understanding that this refers to the antigens in my blood and that the Negative/Positive part of the type is something specifically tied to the D antigen?

So if someone was O Rh(C) then they wouldn't have a negative or positive part listed in their blood type?

Just curious.

 

[mick91]

The D does indeed refer to the D antigen, ABO typing and rh D are the most important while determining suitability for blood transfusions etc, it can also be useful in asessing the risk of certain autoimmune disorders for pregnancy. The other important antigens C c E e are not commonly used to describe your blood group. Although when you're typed they will take a full spectrum of it. To a degree they only worry about ABO and D being present or absent.
Probably already know this but being O- you have a very useful blood group so you should go feed the vampires as often as possible.

 

[TeeDee]

Just asking a more random question ( so apologies for the slight hijacking ) , Do any diseases exist that the affect is different/severe/less severe or attack certain to Blood types?


( B neg myself )

 

[mick91]

Just asking a more random question ( so apologies for the slight hijacking ) , Do any diseases exist that the affect is different/severe/less severe or attack certain to Blood types?


( B neg myself )

That's a relatively new field of study, but there's evidence to show that certain types give you resistance and indeed susceptibility 6to certain diseases. For example people with O types of blood are less susceptible to heart disease and certain kinds of cancer, AB and B are at a slightly elevated risk. But on the flip side O are at a higher risk of developing things like ulcers. The degree of risk is an area of conjecture but it is an observable phenomenon.
B- is quite rare, again, I urge you to donate as much as possible.

 

[TeeDee]

.
B- is quite rare, again, I urge you to donate as much as possible.

All over it. Cant take it out if you don't put it in.


Thanks for your answer BTW.

 

[mick91]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3827391/
That article may be of some interest to you in regards to that question. It may not be all inclusive but it's pretty concise and simple compared to some other literature on it and explains the basics

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[Toddy]

That's an interesting read mick91 thank you for the link

cheers,
Toddy…..O+

 

[sandbender]

The D does indeed refer to the D antigen, ABO typing and rh D are the most important while determining suitability for blood transfusions etc, it can also be useful in asessing the risk of certain autoimmune disorders for pregnancy. The other important antigens C c E e are not commonly used to describe your blood group. Although when you're typed they will take a full spectrum of it. To a degree they only worry about ABO and D being present or absent.
Probably already know this but being O- you have a very useful blood group so you should go feed the vampires as often as possible.

Thanks for that.

My blood would be useful were it not for me having spent my youth wandering far off places where disease or the inoculations against disease mark me out as someone who cannot donate blood. I'd be happy to give regularly otherwise.

I was working out the likely blood types of my kids via this site and it turns out that there is a remote chance that they may have B- which is fairly rare (1 in 62 people) so I may get them tested just so I know.

Thanks again.

 

[mick91]

Thanks for that.

No problem any time

 

[Paul_B]

I've not given blood for 2 years due to never being able to guarantee to make an appointment for a session. If you don't make an appointment for evening session you'll queue almost from opening of the session only to be told they've run out of time. Only place I can get to in time.

Anyway that's a digression. I'm o positive but in my letters from NBS they say my blood is good for 83% of the population. Is that possibly right? What can o positive go into? O neg goes into everyone IIRC but o positive only goes into people also rhesus positive, am I right with that? That would imply 83% are rhesus positive. Just curious as to what rhesus positive actually means.

 

[Paul_B]

I've not given blood for 2 years due to never being able to guarantee to make an appointment for a session. If you don't make an appointment for evening session you'll queue almost from opening of the session only to be told they've run out of time. Only place I can get to in time.

Anyway that's a digression. I'm o positive but in my letters from NBS they say my blood is good for 83% of the population. Is that possibly right? What can o positive go into? O neg goes into everyone IIRC but o positive only goes into people also rhesus positive, am I right with that? That would imply 83% are rhesus positive. Just curious as to what rhesus positive actually means.

 

[dave53]

hi all i wanted to find out my blood group but the nhs want to charge me £10 any ideas how i can find it out for free ?

 

[TeeDee]

hi all i wanted to find out my blood group but the nhs want to charge me £10 any ideas how i can find it out for free ?

Go give blood. https://my.blood.co.uk/Home

They told me mine after I gave. I can't imagine thats changed.

 

[dave53]

as much as i would like to I've had meningitus so my blood isn't a lot of good

 

[Laurentius]

I'm not allowed to give blood either because I am on medication.

 

[sandbender]

as much as i would like to I've had meningitus so my blood isn't a lot of good

There are home test kits available from Amazon and such, not free (£5.60) but not that expensive either, here is a youtube video showing the process.

[video=youtube;YbJn8e0BuKk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbJn8e0BuKk[/video]

 

[mick91]

I've not given blood for 2 years due to never being able to guarantee to make an appointment for a session. If you don't make an appointment for evening session you'll queue almost from opening of the session only to be told they've run out of time. Only place I can get to in time.

Anyway that's a digression. I'm o positive but in my letters from NBS they say my blood is good for 83% of the population. Is that possibly right? What can o positive go into? O neg goes into everyone IIRC but o positive only goes into people also rhesus positive, am I right with that? That would imply 83% are rhesus positive. Just curious as to what rhesus positive actually means.

Can go into anything but a - and yeah + is that much more common
Not meaning A- that means any -

 

[Paul_B]

The letter said it might be common but it was a much needed blood type due to it being used for all other positive blood types. Did see a graph of how much of each blood type currently in stock and it was actually one of the lowest stock levels. So even if you have common blood type it's still very important to give if you're able to. I'm only on 25 donations but I've not been around or able to donate for various reasons or it would be a lot higher. Very important indeed. Even get yourself tested to see if you're suitable for platelet donation. Basically you can go to a donation suite in a hospital and they filter out the component they need, putting the rest back in. You can donate like this every 2 weeks I believe.

Sorry for preaching or going off topic but I've had family who've needed a lot of transfusions during routine surgery. Without blood in stock they'd have died. You seriously don't know if or when someone you know might need blood transfusions.

 

[mick91]

The letter said it might be common but it was a much needed blood type due to it being used for all other positive blood types. Did see a graph of how much of each blood type currently in stock and it was actually one of the lowest stock levels. So even if you have common blood type it's still very important to give if you're able to. I'm only on 25 donations but I've not been around or able to donate for various reasons or it would be a lot higher. Very important indeed. Even get yourself tested to see if you're suitable for platelet donation. Basically you can go to a donation suite in a hospital and they filter out the component they need, putting the rest back in. You can donate like this every 2 weeks I believe.

Sorry for preaching or going off topic but I've had family who've needed a lot of transfusions during routine surgery. Without blood in stock they'd have died. You seriously don't know if or when someone you know might need blood transfusions.

Couldn't agree more. During parts of my training and work in hospitals it's astonishing how much blood is required in a day to day basis. And to me a ***** in the arm and 15 mins in a chair isn't a bad trade to potentially save a life. More so given it has very few effects losing 1 unit of blood. Many people are ruled out of donation but at the end of the day it's free to check. Better still as you say component donation like platelts or BM. My missus needed 2 units of blood before and if no one donated the outcome may not have been quite so cheery!

 

[TeeDee]

Couldn't agree more. During parts of my training and work in hospitals it's astonishing how much blood is required in a day to day basis. And to me a ***** in the arm and 15 mins in a chair isn't a bad trade to potentially save a life. More so given it has very few effects losing 1 unit of blood. Many people are ruled out of donation but at the end of the day it's free to check. Better still as you say component donation like platelts or BM. My missus needed 2 units of blood before and if no one donated the outcome may not have been quite so cheery!

Again a tangent question, but an interesting topic.

Mick91 , do you know if there are any believed health benefits of giving blood for the donor? I've been reading a few articles of late and I wondered if I could get your opinion on it.