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silvos198...

M¢25 Funded By Mahalo ? | July 22, 2009 11:39 AM

My blood type is AB Positive, what does that mean in transfusion terms? How rare, if any, is my blood type?

By transfusion terms I mean, who can recieve blood from me and who (what blood type) can I recieve blood from.

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badaspie

July 22, 2009 12:02 PM

Blood types are defined by the presence or absence of specific antigens and antibodies on the surfaces of blood cells and in the plasma. Transfusing the wrong blood type can result in dangerous, even fatal, incompatibility reactions.

Your blood type, AB-positive, means that you have antigens of types A and B (the "AB" part of your blood type), as well as Rh ("positive"), on your blood cells, with no corresponding antibodies in your plasma. In transfusion terms, you are a "universal recipient," meaning that you can safely receive any type of blood (A, B, AB, or O; Rh positive or negative) despite the rarity of your blood type (about 3.4% of the US population has AB-positive blood).
Source(s):
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/landsteiner/readmore.html
http://anthro.palomar.edu/blood/table_of_ABO_and_Rh_blood_type_frequencies_...

Asker's Rating:

• Was watching Bruce Almighty and they mentioned AB POS being rare, and I was curious to how and why. Thanks for your answer, nail on the head of what I was looking for. Well answered.

Tags: transfusion, blood

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spoon

July 22, 2009 12:11 PM

To see how rare different blood types are by region check out Wikipedia as they have a great little chart! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type#ABO_and_Rh_distribution_by_country

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