

People with type B-positive blood are a little more accepting: they can receive blood from anyone with type O or type B blood, positive or negative. People with type O-negative blood, for example, can only receive blood from other type O-negative people. But all other pairings are not so universal. On the other end, a person with AB-positive blood is known as the universal recipient because if you have AB-positive blood, you’re in luck: should you need a blood transfusion, you can take any blood of any type. That is why emergency room doctors always give O-negative blood to trauma patients when there’s not enough time to determine blood type. Anyone can receive O-negative blood no matter what blood type they have.

We call people with O-negative blood the universal donor. So not all blood types mix well together.Īnyone can receive O-negative blood no matter what blood type they have. Those with type AB blood have both and those with type O blood have neither. Someone with type A blood has only the A antigen on their red blood cells while someone with type B blood has only the B antigen. But if our immune system encounters blood antigens it doesn’t recognize, even if they're totally normal blood antigens for somebody else, it could register those antigens as uninvited guests and launch an attack. These are sometimes called self-antigens. Our red blood cells are covered in hundreds of known antigens-like sugars or proteins-that our immune system ignores. An antigen is typically any substance that triggers a response from your immune system, usually an attack to ward off the foreign antigen invader. That’s why African-American donors may be the best hope for patients with sickle cell disease, 98 percent of whom are of African-American descent.The presence (or lack) of A and B antigens on the surface of your red blood cells determines your ABO blood type. For example, the risk of a reaction to transfused blood can sometimes be reduced if a patient receives blood that is from a donor with the same ethnicity. Some patients require a closer blood match than that provided by ABO positive/negative blood typing. More Hispanic people, for example, have O blood type, while Asian people are more likely to be type B. O-positive is the most common blood type. 8/some-blood-types-might-raise-type-2-diabetes-risk-study/ Blood type by race/ethnicity: 2015/01/blood-type-say-something-potential-health-risks/ For more information, click on the links provided. See below for connections found in other studies as well as the percentage of the U.S. For instance, studies have found that people with Type O blood were at less risk of heart disease than any other blood group. Many scientific studies have found a connection between blood types and health risks. What will your baby’s blood type be? Parents may be surprised to find their baby’s blood type is not the same as either of them. Visit our FAQ page for answers to some common questions about blood donation eligibility.

However, people with O-negative blood can only receive O-negative blood. It is needed in trauma accidents when life-saving blood is required immediately, before blood type is identified. This means anyone can receive O-negative blood. Yet, when someone with a negative blood type needs blood, only another person with a negative type can save his or her life.
