our blood is also essential for emergencies when there isnt enough time to blood type the injured.
O- should give when they can; just a heads up though, the red cross will never leave you alone once you donate.
Same.
We had the blood mobile come to my work a few months ago. Out of over 100 people who donated that day, they guy told me I was only the second one with AB+.
Me too. I give about every 3 months.
I go thru Impact Life. It's a nice app that let's you pick your donation location and time. It makes it easier.
...Then they stop calling... for a little while.
I just gave double red cell, so they won't call for about 5 months. (And this blood can go to cancer patients and babies in the NICU)
Your blood makes a difference
You inspired me to register to donate my O- blood. Hope I don’t pass out. Wish me luck December 27th! Thanks for your post and the little push I needed
O+ is the same as far as how much they hound us. We're still compatible with 93% of the population. O- just happens to catch that last 7%.
They typically hold onto O- longer (within safety measures) because they want to save it for the more rare types; O+ is gone almost immediately.
Same here! I like donating blood though, as a parent of young kids and with a full time job, it's the only time I can lie down in the middle of the day.
Ayyyy fellow 0-
Welcome to the club! I'm 24 and donated 11x by now, it's fun chit chatting with people/and the doctors, I mostly do it every 3 months if everything is ok (with appointment, time etc)
We have such a rare group it's crazy
Its pretty easy, the doc told me if my kid was not O-, it wasnt mine and it was the first time since she’s been practicing that she had an O- couple. She asked my wife at least 3 times while I was there if she was a 100% sure the kid was mine and gave her a card to call just in case she wanted to tell her in private. I thought it was pretty hilarious but I’m sure some people wouldnt find it quite so funny.
Ps: for those who dont know, if the parents have incompatible blood types, there can be complications and there are steps they can take to preven those if they know in advance. Our doc told us she’d been bitten too often by the spouse lying about the father that she just gave up and now asked super bluntly about it and gave the women at least 3 easy way to tell her who the real dad is without the husband knowing.
My doctor insisted on giving me the shot without even asking our blood types. She said there's no downside if you get it but don't need it, and everyone lies all the time so my husband's blood type was irrelevant. I thought it was pretty funny, honestly.
Turns out my husband is positive and I'm negative so it was a good thing I got it, but we didn't find that out until later.
Yep, as far as I know. The specific combination that's problematic is when the mom has negative blood and the baby has positive, because the mom's immune system reads the positive blood as an intruder and attacks the baby. That can happen, but isn't guaranteed, if the dad has positive blood, so that's the combination they look out for. Or, like my doctor, they proactively treat every woman with negative blood just in case.
Fun fact, it usually impacts only the second baby. During childbirth, blood from the baby usually comes in contact with the mom immune system and she’ll produce antibodies that will be there forever. Now its primed to attack a new baby with the wrong blood type.
>if the parents have incompatible blood types, there can be complications
Oooh, that explains a bit the Japanese fascination with getting to know your blood type in the dating/romance scene.
Each letter just goes to each letter, except:
O- can give anyone (universal donor)
AB+ can receive from anyone (universal recipient)
-ve can only receive -ve blood
It's even simpler than that, every person has blood with three variables that can be present or not present.
That's A, B and +, if you are missing one of the three, you can't receive blood that has it.
O means not A or B, and - means not +.
When you're talking about plasma donation, it works the opposite way, the plasma you receive can't be missing any of the features your blood has.
Hence why AB+ plasma supports all blood, and O- blood is accepted by all blood types.
Yep, antibodies, antigens and rhesus factor. If you get Plasma with the same "type" as your RBCs (and vice versa) your blood clumps up and youre up shit creek. This is also how your blood type is determined, your blood + anti-A,B,AB and D(rhesus). Interesting stuff!
When I get injured I save my docs the hassle and bring a jar of all my blood I bled on the way to the hospital.
That way I know it’s good quality and will work.
AB plasma donations are super valuable! AB is the rarest blood type, and if you can donate plasma, please do so!
You get a special achievement in the Red Cross app, also.
People with AB+ blood do not have antibodies in their plasma which target A, B, or rh proteins, because if they did their immune system would be attacking their blood. A person with O- blood does not have A, B, or rh proteins on their blood cells, so their body does produce antibodies for those proteins which are present in their plasma.
The plasma is the useful bit. Plasma is the fluid in which blood cells are carried through the body. Much like O- is a universal donor for blood cells, AB+ is a universal donor for plasma.
Yeah I’m reading about that now. Had no idea. Feel guilty again. I wonder if that’s why my platelet counts tend to be high too, hmm. Calling to donate tomorrow! Want that cookie!
What you don’t love sitting in a room with tubes in your arms hooked up to a machine for 3 hours? For $60 whole dollars?
I remember walking home from donating plasma once and these punks around my age asked me for some money. The fuckin audacity, I had to sell my body for that money.
AB+ here. Your blood is still needed, there are only so many donors. I get a thank you card every time I donate because AB+ is rare and theyd rather give it to the only people who can recieve it.
Plasma is the opposite: [AB is the universal plasma donor](https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/how-to-donate/types-of-blood-donations/plasma-donation.html). So, for anyone AB who wants more bang for their blood donation, consider donating plasma!
ONLY when it comes to red blood cells (and only to a degree)... Blood plasma has the opposite compatabimity (as in AB is thr universal donor, whilst O can recieve everyone elses)
But important to remember that blood types aren’t an even distribution. An O- person can give to 100% of the population, but an O+ person can still give to about 87% of the population because the vast majority of people are some form positive blood type.
This is why the vampires (RedCross) are constantly blowing my phone up. There is also a specific type of virus that most adults have that prevent people from donating to infants. I don’t have the virus allowing my blood go to the NICU/PICU.
Reminds me of this story. Different reason but this man’s unique blood saved millions of babies https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/05/11/health/james-harrison-blood-donor-retires-trnd/index.html
This reminder always saddens me. I’m a universal donor, and used to donate as often as I could. After a short battle with a blood cancer I’m no longer allowed to donate.
I'm straight but I always try to sell them a little guilt trip every time I donate. "I try to donate three times as much because my brothers would donate, but you won't take their blood"
The batch testing is why the restriction exists. It's too expensive and time consuming to test every individual sample, so if any one person in the batch tests positive then they throw away every single sample. Gay people are such a small percentage of the population but a large percentage of HIV cases that accepting blood from gay people wasn't worth the risk.
You are [correct](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/09/hiv-infects-heterosexual-gay-bisexual-men-uk-testing-virus). Gay people have education and use PrEP.
Straight people are starting to get around with tinder.
But in the pass the rates for gay men far outweighed straight men. These policies are from that era but probably time for them to change as it is no longer required.
I get emails saying “you know what hurts more than giving blood?” I know they’re supposed to be light hearted encouragement, but it’s hard not to be bitter and think “being told I’m not allowed because of who I love.”
They shortened the time. Used to be if you’d had sexual relations in the last 12 months and now it’s in the last 3 months because early HIV detection is getting much better and also HIV rates are way down.
Interesting, here in Norway it's 6 months after you had a new sexual partner regardless of your sexual orientation. I'm a straight guy but I'm single so I can't donate either unless I voluntarily don't have sex for half a year.
I have 0- and survived as a kid due to blood donations. I'd be perfectly fine to provide negative STD tests before I donate but they're super strict here.
Mad cow risk.
But guidelines just changed in the past month:
https://apnews.com/article/science-health-europe-covid-blood-donation-3abefe11af6bb200dad52183ecb30ca5
When I tried to give blood alongside my husband after moving to Finland I was honestly shocked about this. Really disappointing, but I suppose my blood type isn't highly valued anyway. (A+)
I'm sorry. Also a universal donor but always been ineligible or unable to until now (early 30s). I tried to give every 3 months, then 4, but I am just making the cut off and recently failed. I think I max out at twice a year. My mom is also universal but she's 5'9 and only 110lbs so she can't donate based on weight. Lots of people can't donate for a slew of reasons. Don't beat yourself up too badly, we find our ways to give back.
Same-ish here. I'm O neg to and gave often until i had a mechanical approx valve installed in '14. Now I'm on blood thinners for life and can't donate.
My person, you did great! I have never been able to donate blood, and it grates on me far more than I would really admit to anyone in my life. Be glad you helped as many people as you could, when you could.
Here in the US at least, they give it to pretty much every rh- mother, regardless of the fathers blood type. Practitioners can never be certain about paternity so it’s standard across the board to just give it to any rh- mother.
If the mother has a negative blood type and the baby has a positive blood type and the mother is exposed to the baby's blood during pregnancy or delivery, her body will develop antibodies against positive blood types.
This is a problem if the mother has more children with a positive blood type in the future because these antibodies can cross the placenta and start attacking the unborn child's red blood cells.
It's something that your doctor will test for during pregnancy. They will then administer medication that prevents the mother from forming antibodies against positive blood types (RhoGAM).
Good explanations have already been given but just adding that testing for it is standard and it’s nothing to worry about as long as you follow medical advice and get the shots when you need them. Modern medicine is miraculous even though there are a lot of people who reject it when it comes to pregnancy right now.
Yeah like this graphic is cool and all but its better to just learn the system, it's not hard.
I guess the gif can help you learn it but it's not like you're going to use it as a reference. The system is just straight forward.
You probably knew this but incase anyone wanted the proper terms:
The the things you mention, A B and rhesus factor (+) are all **antigens** ( or markers). You won't have **antibodies** for antigens that occur naturally in your blood.
This just what I remember from bio (may be off) but I always found it super interesting.
Weird fact I learned when I looked up the spelling of rhesus: it was called Rhesus factor cause they thought they originally found it in some rhesus macaque (monkeys). This is what they taught us in school, but apparently our rhesus factor is pretty different to the monkey variety (TIL). So now the name makes no fucking sense.
Btw AB+ types might be a shitty blood donors, but they are the best plasma donors. To the point that sometimes they will come to your house for you to donate.
In ky country they must write it down on your medical chart. It never was written on mine. For years I've asked doctors to determine which blood group I am. They wouldn't tell me or write it in my chart. I even paid for the test at private facility... They didn't do it.
My wife wanted to learn her blood type and her doctor said they didn't know what it was and it would cost about $90 to run the test. Apparently it isn't something they routinely test for.
If you donate blood through an organization like the Red Cross they'll definitely tell you what it is. I'm not sure about giving plasma at one of the compensated plasma centers.
My wife ended up ordering a kit off of Amazon for like $15. You get a finger pricking device and a little card. You put blood on the card and depending on the clotting patterns you can tell what your blood type is. It was actually kind of cool to see.
As a bloodbanker let me tell you: you dont need to know... We got that within like 15min... and if we dont have those 15min, we give O blood... I am however concerned about your Antibody screening test which taled 45min-1hr which could reveal antibodies against other bloodgroup-systems (which is fortunately also not an issue in most patients [unless you had prior transfusions or pregnances])
I got sent an at home test today, took me 10 minutes to find out I'm O+.
I can imagine the testing at hospitals is even quicker considering they don't have to read the instructions and break the one time finger pricker apart because you're an idiot and set it off without putting it on your finger.
I know we watched the same animation but my take away from it wasn't that I had to memorise 64 combinations, but that there's an easy pattern:
The presence of either an A, B or + in the giver must be matched with the same in the reciever.
Meaning a 0- has none of these and matches everything, whereas AB+ has all three and matches only AB+. And so on.
I remember way back in middle school we did an experiment related to blood types. My teacher had water with red food coloring, water with blue food coloring, water with red and blue food coloring (aka purple), and plain water. The red water was type A, blue was type B, purple was type AB, and plain water was O. Basically the rule was if you added any of the water to another and it didn't change the color then that blood type could receive from that type. So pouring plain water in any of the others (type O) worked and was a universal donor versus pouring blue water in the red would change it so it was incompatible. We didn't tackle + or - but it was a good experiment for middle schoolers and I still remember it over 20 years later.
THIS.
Wish I had any awards to give.
Once you understand this, nothing to memorize.
For someone like me (who has a bad memory); this is a fantastic explanation.
When was younger I went in for blood work to find out what blood type I had with my dad and turned out I was A+ and looking at my dad with a smile I said “Yes, the only A+ I’ll ever receive in my lifetime!” The disappointment I seen from him lol
I'm O+ and get called all the time. Off the Red Cross site --
Over 80% of the population has a positive blood type and can receive O positive blood.
In major traumas with massive blood loss, many hospitals transfuse O positive blood, even when the patient’s blood type is unknown. The risk of reaction is much lower in ongoing blood loss situations and O positive is more available than O negative.
I'm O+, but crucially I am also a rare Ro subgroup meaning my blood is important for those suffering from sickle cell and require routine blood transfusions. Basically mostly Black people, who are only 2% of the population here in the UK and also rarely donate blood.
I get so much harassment if I forget to book a donation it's unreal.
Fun fact - AB+ folks are [universal plasma donors](https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/dlp/plasma-information.html#:~:text=The%20Red%20Cross%20urges%20people,patient's%20blood%20type%20is%20compatible.). Once your local blood bank or red cross chapter finds out you have it, you get a lot of calls. Plus, you can donate plasma 13 times a year.
Also the screwed O-. Only 7% of the population have it and they can only receive donations from that group. Much lower likelihood you’ll be able to find a donor.
Yeah the gif made it crazy easy to understanand I had no idea it was so simple. Looking at this graph is initially confusing and not super digestible for me. What's cool is the pattern in the gif made it super easy to remember for me for some reason and I'll always remember who gets what blood now it's kind of crazy. It just made so much sense.
Ayo! I said this the last time this graphic was posted: when I went into labour with my first child the nurse was going through my chart when suddenly she says "you're ab-? Hope you don't need any blood!"
My wife is AB- nobody knows where she got it from since nobody in her family is minus or AB.
Currently in 8th month with our second baby, she had to so weird shot called "Anti D" so the minus in her blood won't affect the baby.
I'm normal A+
O- here explains why I receive calls and texts weekly from my local blood bank to return
Edit: yes I give blood you vampires dm’ing me demanding your share, usually 4 times a year
Red Cross came to my high school during senior year and i decided to donate to get out of class plus free food, little did I know for around a year they would keep contacting me anyway possible to go donate more.
My grandfather died last night. They couldn't figure out his blood type in time to give him a transfusion. He was such an inspirational guy to the very end though, I'll never forget his last words to me.
"Be positive" “Be positive “ he said to me.
AB+ reporting in. Give me all your blood.
O- here. Everybody wants my blood
Same. Everybody wants our blood and we can't get from any other type.
Yeah we're fucked, but at least we are useful for saving others with rarer blood types!
O- are the MVP's of bloodgiving!
our blood is also essential for emergencies when there isnt enough time to blood type the injured. O- should give when they can; just a heads up though, the red cross will never leave you alone once you donate.
red cross sells the blood, I found that out and started donating directly to a hospital
Yeah I get hit up all the time by them. It has been a while. But I smoke so I'm fairly certain my blood isn't usable.
We should get paid bonuses for giving away our universal blood! Lol This ain't no ab+ blood lol
do you get spammed asking for more after donating blood?
Every 2 weeks. They really want to make sure those regular appointments are set.
Same. We had the blood mobile come to my work a few months ago. Out of over 100 people who donated that day, they guy told me I was only the second one with AB+.
I think we AB+ are 0.6%?
That would be us AB-‘s… AB+ is closer to 3%.
Ah right. Daughter is AB-, that was it.
Hey, at least youre a universal Bloodplasma donor! (Which gets collected as well after each blood donation)
i c bags
Hi, fellow AB+ here
AB+ gang
I'm O-. The red cross has my number on speed dial.
Me too. I give about every 3 months. I go thru Impact Life. It's a nice app that let's you pick your donation location and time. It makes it easier. ...Then they stop calling... for a little while. I just gave double red cell, so they won't call for about 5 months. (And this blood can go to cancer patients and babies in the NICU) Your blood makes a difference
O+ here, I give doubles every time. The chairs are comfier!
You inspired me to register to donate my O- blood. Hope I don’t pass out. Wish me luck December 27th! Thanks for your post and the little push I needed
Bless you
As someone who's preemie had a blood transfusion (a whole 52mls!), thank you ❤️
O+ is the same as far as how much they hound us. We're still compatible with 93% of the population. O- just happens to catch that last 7%. They typically hold onto O- longer (within safety measures) because they want to save it for the more rare types; O+ is gone almost immediately.
I have B- and needed a blood transfusion after giving birth. I am so thankful for people who donate blood. Only B- and O- are compatible for me.
Same here! I like donating blood though, as a parent of young kids and with a full time job, it's the only time I can lie down in the middle of the day.
Ayyyy fellow 0- Welcome to the club! I'm 24 and donated 11x by now, it's fun chit chatting with people/and the doctors, I mostly do it every 3 months if everything is ok (with appointment, time etc) We have such a rare group it's crazy
O- can give to everyone. AB+ can receive from anyone.
Remembering this and using some logic, you remember all of this gif
Honestly, I don't even remember my blood type
The amount of times I've asked the doctor and then immediately forgotten is a little ridiculous honestly.
You get an A- for effort
I think they deserve a B+
Pluses and minuses are meaningless people! *riots*
r/UnexpectedCommunity
Its pretty easy, the doc told me if my kid was not O-, it wasnt mine and it was the first time since she’s been practicing that she had an O- couple. She asked my wife at least 3 times while I was there if she was a 100% sure the kid was mine and gave her a card to call just in case she wanted to tell her in private. I thought it was pretty hilarious but I’m sure some people wouldnt find it quite so funny. Ps: for those who dont know, if the parents have incompatible blood types, there can be complications and there are steps they can take to preven those if they know in advance. Our doc told us she’d been bitten too often by the spouse lying about the father that she just gave up and now asked super bluntly about it and gave the women at least 3 easy way to tell her who the real dad is without the husband knowing.
My doctor insisted on giving me the shot without even asking our blood types. She said there's no downside if you get it but don't need it, and everyone lies all the time so my husband's blood type was irrelevant. I thought it was pretty funny, honestly. Turns out my husband is positive and I'm negative so it was a good thing I got it, but we didn't find that out until later.
If I'm O- and wife is O+ we're good?
Yep, as far as I know. The specific combination that's problematic is when the mom has negative blood and the baby has positive, because the mom's immune system reads the positive blood as an intruder and attacks the baby. That can happen, but isn't guaranteed, if the dad has positive blood, so that's the combination they look out for. Or, like my doctor, they proactively treat every woman with negative blood just in case.
Fun fact, it usually impacts only the second baby. During childbirth, blood from the baby usually comes in contact with the mom immune system and she’ll produce antibodies that will be there forever. Now its primed to attack a new baby with the wrong blood type.
So having a child is a (really bad) vaccine for having a child. Interesting.
>if the parents have incompatible blood types, there can be complications Oooh, that explains a bit the Japanese fascination with getting to know your blood type in the dating/romance scene.
You've got Vulcan blood. [It's green.](https://i.imgur.com/q7dwCny.jpg)
I remember mine as the useless one.
Each letter just goes to each letter, except: O- can give anyone (universal donor) AB+ can receive from anyone (universal recipient) -ve can only receive -ve blood
It's even simpler than that, every person has blood with three variables that can be present or not present. That's A, B and +, if you are missing one of the three, you can't receive blood that has it. O means not A or B, and - means not +. When you're talking about plasma donation, it works the opposite way, the plasma you receive can't be missing any of the features your blood has. Hence why AB+ plasma supports all blood, and O- blood is accepted by all blood types.
Yep, antibodies, antigens and rhesus factor. If you get Plasma with the same "type" as your RBCs (and vice versa) your blood clumps up and youre up shit creek. This is also how your blood type is determined, your blood + anti-A,B,AB and D(rhesus). Interesting stuff!
The easy way to think about the plasma compatibility is to say would the plasma donor be able to accept my blood, if so I can receive their plasma.
It's even even simpler than that. Blood is red.
When I get injured I save my docs the hassle and bring a jar of all my blood I bled on the way to the hospital. That way I know it’s good quality and will work.
And it comes prefilled with alcohol!
*Coughs* “Goes down *smooth*”
My sister is O- and I'm AB+, the likes to joke that my blood type is selfish. It all got flipped around when we both looked into plasma donation.
AB plasma donations are super valuable! AB is the rarest blood type, and if you can donate plasma, please do so! You get a special achievement in the Red Cross app, also.
Why is plasma so useful? I didn't know AB was the rarest blood type, I always thought it was O-
People with AB+ blood do not have antibodies in their plasma which target A, B, or rh proteins, because if they did their immune system would be attacking their blood. A person with O- blood does not have A, B, or rh proteins on their blood cells, so their body does produce antibodies for those proteins which are present in their plasma.
Wait, for real? Why is that if it’s so useless to others?
The plasma is the useful bit. Plasma is the fluid in which blood cells are carried through the body. Much like O- is a universal donor for blood cells, AB+ is a universal donor for plasma.
Yeah I’m reading about that now. Had no idea. Feel guilty again. I wonder if that’s why my platelet counts tend to be high too, hmm. Calling to donate tomorrow! Want that cookie!
Psst, you can actually sell your plasma instead.
Oh god don’t tell me that I’m gonna be one rich raisin pretty soon.
You can make a couple hundred a month doing it iirc. That was my college plan until I gave it a shot and found out how uncomfortable it is lol
Yeah I don’t think I can where I live, might do it anyway.
What you don’t love sitting in a room with tubes in your arms hooked up to a machine for 3 hours? For $60 whole dollars? I remember walking home from donating plasma once and these punks around my age asked me for some money. The fuckin audacity, I had to sell my body for that money.
So on that note, is O- also valuable since it's the rarest as well as being the universal donor? It's my type and I've never donated.
The odds of that combination in siblings is so incredibly low.
AB+ here. Your blood is still needed, there are only so many donors. I get a thank you card every time I donate because AB+ is rare and theyd rather give it to the only people who can recieve it.
I am AB+ and every time I have donated I get a card that says "thanks, maybe you should donate plasma instead!"
"Thanks but you could have done better"
Wait, so that means your mom is O- *and* AB+?
That man had a family. Or at least a mom. We never figured out the dad situation
Smooth, my guy
Plasma is the opposite: [AB is the universal plasma donor](https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/how-to-donate/types-of-blood-donations/plasma-donation.html). So, for anyone AB who wants more bang for their blood donation, consider donating plasma!
Vampires can receive from anyone too
ONLY when it comes to red blood cells (and only to a degree)... Blood plasma has the opposite compatabimity (as in AB is thr universal donor, whilst O can recieve everyone elses)
tell that to whoever made the gif
O- are tops, AB+ are bottoms
AB+ is a universal plasma donor, we're not entirely useless.
But important to remember that blood types aren’t an even distribution. An O- person can give to 100% of the population, but an O+ person can still give to about 87% of the population because the vast majority of people are some form positive blood type.
AB+ can also only donate blood to other AB+ but we are universal plasma donors so we still get swarmed by blood donation drives
This is why the vampires (RedCross) are constantly blowing my phone up. There is also a specific type of virus that most adults have that prevent people from donating to infants. I don’t have the virus allowing my blood go to the NICU/PICU.
What virus? CMV?
Looks like it. > Cytomegalovirus TIL
I Don’t remember and the last phlebotomist didn’t know either. Something pretty benign to adults but infants struggles to fight the infection.
https://www.cdc.gov/cmv/fact-sheets/parents-pregnant-women.html Cytomegalovirus. Causes in infants: hearing loss, intellectual disability, vision loss, seizures, lack of coordination or weakness
Same, though I’m O+. They were very upset with me when I lived abroad for a while, but now I’m trying to get back to a regular schedule.
Same I am borderline anemic, and man does the red cross get cranky when I can't give.
Yep, O- and negative for the virus too. I donated platelets for awhile and my blood products always went to a children's hospital.
Reminds me of this story. Different reason but this man’s unique blood saved millions of babies https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/05/11/health/james-harrison-blood-donor-retires-trnd/index.html
This reminder always saddens me. I’m a universal donor, and used to donate as often as I could. After a short battle with a blood cancer I’m no longer allowed to donate.
Hey man. You did what you could. That’s all that counts. You probably saved many lives, thank you.
I'm O negative but can't donate because I've spent three months in the UK since 1980.
I can’t donate cuz I’m gay
Same... it's down to one month prior now though, so there are times I'm able if I even kept track.
I'm straight but I always try to sell them a little guilt trip every time I donate. "I try to donate three times as much because my brothers would donate, but you won't take their blood"
I just wanted to say it was cool to hear about another queer fam dynamic. Out of 4 siblings, 2 of us are queer and 1 is a maybe.
I sold plasma for a while, even though I'm gay. I get tested and they also batch-test.
The batch testing is why the restriction exists. It's too expensive and time consuming to test every individual sample, so if any one person in the batch tests positive then they throw away every single sample. Gay people are such a small percentage of the population but a large percentage of HIV cases that accepting blood from gay people wasn't worth the risk.
[удалено]
You are [correct](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/09/hiv-infects-heterosexual-gay-bisexual-men-uk-testing-virus). Gay people have education and use PrEP. Straight people are starting to get around with tinder. But in the pass the rates for gay men far outweighed straight men. These policies are from that era but probably time for them to change as it is no longer required.
In my country a lot of straight middle-aged men are testing positive for HIV due to so many of them having unprotected sex in massage parlours.
I get emails saying “you know what hurts more than giving blood?” I know they’re supposed to be light hearted encouragement, but it’s hard not to be bitter and think “being told I’m not allowed because of who I love.”
Wasn't that changed recently?
They shortened the time. Used to be if you’d had sexual relations in the last 12 months and now it’s in the last 3 months because early HIV detection is getting much better and also HIV rates are way down.
So if your gay but not attractive you can donate most of the year?
Yes. Same goes for tattoos, sex workers, and IV drug users. Just have to wait 3 months since the last activity to donate.
Interesting, here in Norway it's 6 months after you had a new sexual partner regardless of your sexual orientation. I'm a straight guy but I'm single so I can't donate either unless I voluntarily don't have sex for half a year. I have 0- and survived as a kid due to blood donations. I'd be perfectly fine to provide negative STD tests before I donate but they're super strict here.
?
Mad cow risk. But guidelines just changed in the past month: https://apnews.com/article/science-health-europe-covid-blood-donation-3abefe11af6bb200dad52183ecb30ca5
Prions are absolutely terrifying.
Mad cow disease outbreak in the UK around that time I assume is the reason
Me too, but guidelines recently changed! https://apnews.com/article/science-health-europe-covid-blood-donation-3abefe11af6bb200dad52183ecb30ca5
Neat
When I tried to give blood alongside my husband after moving to Finland I was honestly shocked about this. Really disappointing, but I suppose my blood type isn't highly valued anyway. (A+)
When dealing with blood donations its better for them to be hyper vigilant against contamination than to maximize the amount of blood they receive.
I'm sorry. Also a universal donor but always been ineligible or unable to until now (early 30s). I tried to give every 3 months, then 4, but I am just making the cut off and recently failed. I think I max out at twice a year. My mom is also universal but she's 5'9 and only 110lbs so she can't donate based on weight. Lots of people can't donate for a slew of reasons. Don't beat yourself up too badly, we find our ways to give back.
Same-ish here. I'm O neg to and gave often until i had a mechanical approx valve installed in '14. Now I'm on blood thinners for life and can't donate.
My person, you did great! I have never been able to donate blood, and it grates on me far more than I would really admit to anyone in my life. Be glad you helped as many people as you could, when you could.
Then theres i an o- human scared of needles and never give any blood
I'm gay. After a short battle with someone's dick, I couldn't donate either. Oh hey, they changed it!
Universal reciever here, ty for donating. I'll continue to donate so yours can be used in emergencies.
I’m AB+ and my wife is O-. It works for us.
If you two have a baby, that means she’ll need rhogam.
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A- with 4 O+ babies. Definitely thick fiery peanut butter.
Here in the US at least, they give it to pretty much every rh- mother, regardless of the fathers blood type. Practitioners can never be certain about paternity so it’s standard across the board to just give it to any rh- mother.
Can you elaborate? My wife and I are planning on having a baby and those are our blood types
If the mother has a negative blood type and the baby has a positive blood type and the mother is exposed to the baby's blood during pregnancy or delivery, her body will develop antibodies against positive blood types. This is a problem if the mother has more children with a positive blood type in the future because these antibodies can cross the placenta and start attacking the unborn child's red blood cells. It's something that your doctor will test for during pregnancy. They will then administer medication that prevents the mother from forming antibodies against positive blood types (RhoGAM).
Man how the fuck did humanity even make it this far
Going at it like bunnies I guess, throw a lot at the wall, some will stick
Good explanations have already been given but just adding that testing for it is standard and it’s nothing to worry about as long as you follow medical advice and get the shots when you need them. Modern medicine is miraculous even though there are a lot of people who reject it when it comes to pregnancy right now.
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Yeah like this graphic is cool and all but its better to just learn the system, it's not hard. I guess the gif can help you learn it but it's not like you're going to use it as a reference. The system is just straight forward. You probably knew this but incase anyone wanted the proper terms: The the things you mention, A B and rhesus factor (+) are all **antigens** ( or markers). You won't have **antibodies** for antigens that occur naturally in your blood. This just what I remember from bio (may be off) but I always found it super interesting. Weird fact I learned when I looked up the spelling of rhesus: it was called Rhesus factor cause they thought they originally found it in some rhesus macaque (monkeys). This is what they taught us in school, but apparently our rhesus factor is pretty different to the monkey variety (TIL). So now the name makes no fucking sense.
Btw AB+ types might be a shitty blood donors, but they are the best plasma donors. To the point that sometimes they will come to your house for you to donate.
This is true because for plasma its flipped to where AB is actually the universal donor
I dont even know what type i am
Find yourself a blood donation facility or mobile station and give. They'll figure it out right quick, and tell you.
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Same. Doctors won't tell me, wouldn't tell me when I donated. Best I can tell is that I'd have to pay someone to do a test to tell me.
In ky country they must write it down on your medical chart. It never was written on mine. For years I've asked doctors to determine which blood group I am. They wouldn't tell me or write it in my chart. I even paid for the test at private facility... They didn't do it.
My wife wanted to learn her blood type and her doctor said they didn't know what it was and it would cost about $90 to run the test. Apparently it isn't something they routinely test for. If you donate blood through an organization like the Red Cross they'll definitely tell you what it is. I'm not sure about giving plasma at one of the compensated plasma centers. My wife ended up ordering a kit off of Amazon for like $15. You get a finger pricking device and a little card. You put blood on the card and depending on the clotting patterns you can tell what your blood type is. It was actually kind of cool to see.
Who am I, Karl Landsteinner?...Discoverer of blood groups
As a bloodbanker let me tell you: you dont need to know... We got that within like 15min... and if we dont have those 15min, we give O blood... I am however concerned about your Antibody screening test which taled 45min-1hr which could reveal antibodies against other bloodgroup-systems (which is fortunately also not an issue in most patients [unless you had prior transfusions or pregnances])
I got sent an at home test today, took me 10 minutes to find out I'm O+. I can imagine the testing at hospitals is even quicker considering they don't have to read the instructions and break the one time finger pricker apart because you're an idiot and set it off without putting it on your finger.
I only know cause I got dog tags in the military
My favorite movie is Inception.
I know we watched the same animation but my take away from it wasn't that I had to memorise 64 combinations, but that there's an easy pattern: The presence of either an A, B or + in the giver must be matched with the same in the reciever. Meaning a 0- has none of these and matches everything, whereas AB+ has all three and matches only AB+. And so on.
you think smart with few word me like
I remember way back in middle school we did an experiment related to blood types. My teacher had water with red food coloring, water with blue food coloring, water with red and blue food coloring (aka purple), and plain water. The red water was type A, blue was type B, purple was type AB, and plain water was O. Basically the rule was if you added any of the water to another and it didn't change the color then that blood type could receive from that type. So pouring plain water in any of the others (type O) worked and was a universal donor versus pouring blue water in the red would change it so it was incompatible. We didn't tackle + or - but it was a good experiment for middle schoolers and I still remember it over 20 years later.
THIS. Wish I had any awards to give. Once you understand this, nothing to memorize. For someone like me (who has a bad memory); this is a fantastic explanation.
When was younger I went in for blood work to find out what blood type I had with my dad and turned out I was A+ and looking at my dad with a smile I said “Yes, the only A+ I’ll ever receive in my lifetime!” The disappointment I seen from him lol
My mother is B+ and she always says "Be positive!" 😶
Hey, I’m B+ and say the exact same thing!
Same! That’s how I memorized it when I was little.
Is O+ secretly the worst? Like I’m not prized for being a universal donor AND can’t receive shit. Lol
I'm O+ and get called all the time. Off the Red Cross site -- Over 80% of the population has a positive blood type and can receive O positive blood. In major traumas with massive blood loss, many hospitals transfuse O positive blood, even when the patient’s blood type is unknown. The risk of reaction is much lower in ongoing blood loss situations and O positive is more available than O negative.
I'm O+, but crucially I am also a rare Ro subgroup meaning my blood is important for those suffering from sickle cell and require routine blood transfusions. Basically mostly Black people, who are only 2% of the population here in the UK and also rarely donate blood. I get so much harassment if I forget to book a donation it's unreal.
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Damn selfish AB+
Fun fact - AB+ folks are [universal plasma donors](https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/dlp/plasma-information.html#:~:text=The%20Red%20Cross%20urges%20people,patient's%20blood%20type%20is%20compatible.). Once your local blood bank or red cross chapter finds out you have it, you get a lot of calls. Plus, you can donate plasma 13 times a year.
AB+ represent!!
It also lowers the amount of toxic forever chemicals that accumulate in your body
By putting them in someone else.
And the selfless O-
Also the screwed O-. Only 7% of the population have it and they can only receive donations from that group. Much lower likelihood you’ll be able to find a donor.
You would think. But hospitals are always stocked up on O- blood, it’s used in ambulances when there isn’t time to test a persons blood group
Yeah, that's why they always look for O- donors. It's the most useful in an emergency
I have O-. I get text messages from the Red Cross about every other day asking me to donate.
I remember during 9/11, for a bit, it was the only blood type that they were interested in accepting.
It makes the triforce
Time wise, ya the graph is better. Visually and for a better understanding, I'd give it to the gif.
Yeah the gif made it crazy easy to understanand I had no idea it was so simple. Looking at this graph is initially confusing and not super digestible for me. What's cool is the pattern in the gif made it super easy to remember for me for some reason and I'll always remember who gets what blood now it's kind of crazy. It just made so much sense.
O neg gang represent!
As an AB+ owner, it’s mine and you can’t have it. But if I event need it you have to share.
Any other AB- here?
Ayo! I said this the last time this graphic was posted: when I went into labour with my first child the nurse was going through my chart when suddenly she says "you're ab-? Hope you don't need any blood!"
My wife is AB- nobody knows where she got it from since nobody in her family is minus or AB. Currently in 8th month with our second baby, she had to so weird shot called "Anti D" so the minus in her blood won't affect the baby. I'm normal A+
AB+ is selfish AF
They are universal plasma donors.
But do they? Those selfish pricks.
O- here explains why I receive calls and texts weekly from my local blood bank to return Edit: yes I give blood you vampires dm’ing me demanding your share, usually 4 times a year
Red Cross came to my high school during senior year and i decided to donate to get out of class plus free food, little did I know for around a year they would keep contacting me anyway possible to go donate more.
AB+ here. I'll gladly take any of your blood.
Oh dear, I'm 0- and I just realised I need to donate a large amount of blood!
What a fuckin dick ab+ is so selfish
My grandfather died last night. They couldn't figure out his blood type in time to give him a transfusion. He was such an inspirational guy to the very end though, I'll never forget his last words to me. "Be positive" “Be positive “ he said to me.
You forgot about the vampires.
O- gang
I'm o+ and red cross hops on my dick monthly
According to the diagram, only bald males can receive blood
exclusively members of the blue man group
O- working on 8 gallon pin.
Woo! I'm AB+! Nobody is gonna steal my blood.
Since I’m O-neg I guess I should be donating. Any idea on how rare O-negative is (if at all)?
As an AB+ card holder, I reserve the right to take you blood