Does anyone here carry a donor card or donate blood?

Naw, those are going straight to science, baby.

 

How big is your, you know, trouser-snake, Milo? Just in case you die, and I lost mine in a horrible farming accident all of a sudden.

Ferret, what's the deal with O or O positive being a "universal donor"? I thought I had always heard that O type or maybe O positive could give and receive any type. I confoosed.

 

Yes I do both. I like to watch my blood being sucked into the little tub. Ahhhh it makes me feel like a vampire is sucking my blood. *Looks around with a evil smile*

 

Menion, you're a fucking idiot. Please stop with the lol, nice one, good job, me too, jackass posts.

 

Man, this is a case of Small Dick Syndrome, or My-wife-is-unhappy-I'll-get-a-bigger-dick...type thing.

Of course, I think just about everyone's looking to trade in for a bigger model, even...well, you get the picture.

Hey, there are kids reading this.

 

No, actually you have it backwards, Jar. I'm looking to downsize. I'm just tired of getting carpet burns from walking around the house naked, you know what I mean?...... No, you probably don't.

 

It's O negative cells that are the 'Universal Donor' cells.

Because O-type blood cells have neither A or B antigen then the person with that type of blood group had both antibodies. This means that they can only accept O-type blood.

However, it also works the other way around. Because neither anitgen is present on the cells, then it doesn't matter if the recipient has either antibody, as it won't react to the O-type cells. There is nothing for it to react to as the antibodies bind to the antigens on the cells.

It's the same with the Rhesus antigens. If someone has R -ve cells then they have the Rhesus antibody and thus cannot accept anything other than R -ve cells, but anyone can receive those R -ve cells because there is nothing to react to even if they have the antibodies.

As such, if you have O -ve blood, then anyone can have it tranfused because there is just nothing for any of the antibodies to react to, no matter what their normal blood type is, so it universally donatable.

 

That clears it up. Mama has always told me that we have the "universal donor" blood, but we couldn't ever remember if it was O+ or O-.

So basically, anybody in the world can have my blood, but I have to get blood strickly from O- people? Boy, that's comforting. I... I... feel like such a..... milk cow. Sucking me dry, but what happens should I need more blood? (Heaven forbid) I have to hope that the O- vats are full? Exactly how rare is O- blood, Ferret?

 

I was thinking about those people with rare blood types who are always caught with thier pants down when they need blood, if they were smart, they would take their own blood and store it for their personal use. I don't know where one could store it, but the hospital sounds like a good choice. Just make sure you mark the bag "private property", or "This is infected with HIV."

 

I'm sure the rare type blood isn't being used for people with other blood types unless there is no choice. If you know the statistics, so do the doctors. But I have to admit that it does make me respect people with rare blood types more for donating their blood, since they're more likely to help someone.
P.S. Ferret, thanks for your posts. May I quote them on another board to explain to people?

 

Only problem with this is, stored red blood cells only keep for about 42 days, after which it isn't useable for transfusions anymore. So in order to do what you're suggesting, you'd have to continually donate your blood every month or so to keep a fresh supply on hand. Don't know how many people are willing to do that for the rest of their lives.

 

Well that sucks, I didn't know it was so short of a window. On another matter, what would happen if an uninjured person with the required 8 pints of blood was given more blood through donation?

 

hmmmmm I don't know mabye he would explode. :grin:

I know I know this was stupid.

 

Darkwalker, may I suggest that you don't do such a thing. You would only be able to tolerate a small increase in blood fluid level before it would result in major blood pressure issues. This would almost certainly cause internal haemorraging and you would probably drown in your own blood as it burst the lining in your lungs. It's a very painful and unpleasant way to die.

Windmills, I had no idea it was that short. The maximum lifespan of a red blood cell is 120 days so freezing it would shorten the lifespan, but I didn't know it was by so much!

Incidentally, blood plasma can be stored more or less indefinitely, so they use that mostly. They only use proper blood, containing the red and white cells and the compliment for things that are really serious.

Solaris, feel free to quote me. Except I'd appreciate if you didn't quote what I'm about to say as it's not fact - just guesswork.

And Retard, I can't remember the exact stats so don't quote me on any of these, but I'm guessing only around 5% of the population is O group. A and B groups make up the majority of people, with A being slightly more common than B, I think. AB is also fairly rare, but it's still way higher than O.

If I was to make a rough, but educated guess, I would say that it would be distributed something like this:

A: 40%
B: 35%
AB: 20%
O: 5%

But that's only an educated guess and I could be way out. The Rhesus antigen is more or less evenly spread, so about half of those would be positive and about half would be negative.