Blood and Blood Spatter

Blood Types

Not all blood is alike. There are eight common blood types and many rare ones.

Blood types are determined by the presence or absence of certain antigens – substances that can trigger an immune response if they are foreign to the body. Since some antigens can trigger a patient's immune system to attack the transfused blood, safe blood transfusions depend on careful blood typing and cross-matching.

There are four major blood groups determined by the presence or absence of two antigens – A and B – on the surface of red blood cells:

• In addition to the A and B antigens, there is a protein called the Rh factor, which can be either present (+) or absent (–), creating the 8 common blood types (A+, A-, B+, B-, O+, O-, AB+, AB-).

There are more than 600 other known antigens, the presence or absence of which creates "rare blood types." Certain blood types are unique to specific ethnic or racial groups. That’s why an African-American blood donation may be the best hope for the needs of patients with sickle cell disease, many of whom are of African descent.

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