Could True Blood be prophetic?

<a href='http://www.plime.com/redir.p?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd5E-pHzXGI' class='plime' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'><b>flash video</b></a>

It's not that rare. AB- is more rare by an order of magnitude.

I've said it before and I doubt this will be the last time.

Stem cells - is there nothing they can't do?

It wasn't said to be "the rarest", nor is the breakthrough meant to be a competition for the rarest. O-Negative is relatively rare and more importantly is considered "the universal donor" which makes it very useful.

My sis is O- and one of my employers is AB- (they work together as well). Quite interesting to know two people with these two rare blood types.
I'm glad about this breakthrough though, good blood is hard to find (I love bad puns... hehe)

Not to nitpick but I believe anyone in the O group, positive or negative, is considered a universal donor.

I don't think that is correct. At least it wasn't what I was always taught.

Only O-Negative blood could be given to anyone

Conversely, when it comes to plasma donation it is the reverse. O is the universal recipient and AB is the universal donor. Positive/negative rh factor isn't part of plasma so has no bearing.

If you look at



and



you'll see the RH factor does have a bearing on regular blood donation. So O-positive can only be donated to those who share the postive factor, O+ A+ B+ AB+

Yes, with further checking, you are correct.

But apparently there's a new twist:

"Universal blood donor type: Is there such a thing?"

Interesting. That makes sense. I guess O-negative is only "universal" when you need blood immediately and there is no time to type and match. It may end up harming the patient, but not as likely as any other type would.