Dear mediaman-ga
Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. A blood
type (sometimes called ?ABO blood group? is determined by the presence
or absence of two proteins (Protein A and Protein B) on the surface of
a person?s red blood cells. Because two proteins are involved, there
are four possible combinations or blood types (ABO groups):
Type A - Only the A protein is present.
Type B - Only the B protein is present.
Type AB - Both proteins are present.
Type O - Neither protein is present (almost 40% of the population).
A third protein called the Rh Factor (named for its discovery in the
blood of a Rhesus Monkey) determines whether the type is ?positive? or
?negative?. If the Rh protein is in the blood it is considered
?positive? and if the protein is absent the type is classified as
?negative?.
Only about 1% of the population has an AB Negative blood type. The
type is indeed quite rare but this does not necessarily preclude an AB
Negative person from receiving an urgent transfusion from certain
donors.
You will see and rather complicated but detailed explanation of what
blood type individuals can give and receive the various types of blood
here:
?In an emergency, anyone can receive type O Red Blood Cells, and type
AB individuals can receive Red Blood Cells of any ABO type. Therefore,
people with type O blood are known as ?universal donors? and those
with type AB blood are known as ?universal recipients.?
LITTLE COMPANY OF MARY HEALTH SYSTEMS - BLOOD TYPES
http://www.lcmhs.org/services/bdc4.html
Generally speaking though, persons with AB Negative Type Blood can
RECEIVE the following types of blood:
A Negative
B Negative
O Negative
AB Negative
AB Negative type blood can be safely GIVEN to persons with blood types:
AB Positive
AB Negative
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA AT LAFAYETTE
http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~bkd3019/abneg.html
If you are involved in an accident or found yourself in need of blood,
the likelihood that you would receive AB Negative blood depends
largely on what facility you are treated at and what inventory they
have on hand. As a rule, you probably would not received AB Negative
blood as a replacement since it is so rare and limited supplies of it
exists in most facilities. On the other hand, being a ?universal
recipient? and in view of the fact that Type O, a ?universal
replacement? is so widely available, this is most commonly what would
be used and you would probably not be critically in need of
replacement blood for very long. In other words, the fact that you
have this particularly rare blood type would not mean a ?life or
death? situation for you under normal circumstances.
In answer to your latter question about superstitions or cultural
considerations for those who have rare blood types, I found nothing to
support that. It seems that even in cultures where such beliefs are
commonly held, this particular issue, now universally scientifically
understood, has never been subject to these cultural beliefs. To put
it another way, in a bygone era when people were susceptible to such
beliefs, they would have had no way of knowing what ?blood types?
were, so they would have had no basis for developing such
superstitions. Having said that, I reiterate that I found no culture
where such a belief has been incorporated into issues of fate, luck,
karma, superstition or even religion.
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
INFORMATION SOURCES
HOW STUFF WORKS
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question593.htm
LITTLE COMPANY OF MARY HEALTH SYSTEMS - BLOOD TYPES
http://www.lcmhs.org/services/bdc4.html
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA AT LAFAYETTE
http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~bkd3019/abneg.html
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
Blood types
Blood groups
Compatibility
Rh factor
Prevalence
Donor
Recipient
Probability |
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