ABO Blood Types
A little history...
In 1616, a doctor by the name of William Harvey attempted to perform blood transfusions between different patients and even animals. It was not until right before the 19th century when they realized that, depending on the person, coagulation would begin and cause infection. In 1900, Karl Landsteiner experimented with six of his colleagues' serum and red cells. He soon began to observe as some samples would agglutinate with animal red cells and people's red cells, but it also did not agglutinate with other red cells. The conclusion of different blood groups did not come easily. There were many speculations such as bacterial problems in a person's cells, their medical history, and other underlying factors. In 1901, Landsteiner concluded that only two anti-gens and two antibodies were necessary to explain the blood groups. He defined the blood to either have A or B antigens or neither (which is referred to as group O (originally named C) is the absence of both A and B antigens) and the two antibody - anti-A and anti-B - were present in the opposing antigen group. The final group is AB and AB is the group with both A and B antibodies and no antigens.
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Blood Goals
Since there are multiple blood types and your blood type is inherited genetically, certain blood types are more in demand than others.
The Red Cross is aware of the variance among these blood types and when a new blood drive is being organized, they target specific groups in order to reach a certain goal.
The Red Cross is aware of the variance among these blood types and when a new blood drive is being organized, they target specific groups in order to reach a certain goal.