How many types of blood are there?

Question

I know 5

A

B

AB

O

Bombay

Also can a - blood type give to a +?

What is the rarest blood?

Answer 1

Depends on how you count.  The major groups are A-B-O, and Rh (which together give 8 possibilities), but there are numerous minor groups which are important to immunologists.

Answer 2

You've got more than five already--A, B, AB, O, Bombay, Rh+, and Rh-.

A Rh- blood type can give to Rh+ blood type.  It's the same deal as with ABO, just think of someone who is "AB" as "A+B+" and someone who is "A" as "A+B-", and "O" is "A-B-" and you'll notice that all of the blood type matching works the same.

The rarest "normal" blood type is AB-.  I've heard that Bombay is the actual rarest blood type, but I personally doubt that, considering how many different rare blood types there are that most people don't know about (after all, most sites will list "AB-" as the most rare blood type and ignore other possible typing systems).

There are a few good places to learn about the more bizarre blood types.  Wikipedia's page is a good starting place to get an idea of what all to look at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_blood...

This site is another good starting point, but I personally like wikipedia better (just for the ease of getting some simple info on each different group before doing my own search, and the source links that usually provide more details on specific things I'm interested in):  http://www.bloodbook.com/rare.html

It's also worth noting that the Rhesus factor itself has a bunch of different types.  Rhesus antigen D is the one that is usually referred to with the + or - on the end of a blood type, but there are other varieties.  There are also varieties of A and B, though I haven't read anything about these causing complications in a blood transfusion.  

Other things you might find interesting to look at:  Blood type matching for a red blood cell transfusion is the opposite of blood type matching for a plasma transfusion.  For example, AB can receive red blood cells from anyone, but can only receive plasma from other AB's.  This is because someone who has type B blood has anti-A antibodies in their plasma, which will activate the donor's immune system against their own AB blood cells.  The blood is separated before transfused (into three things actually; red blood cells, platelets, and plasma).

Answer 3

Interesting to hear 'Bombay' as a blood type:)  No one mentioned this resource yet:

http://bloodbanker.com/plasma/centers/bl...

...has an interesting map of world blood type distribution and a compatibility chart (lol, sounds like eharmony or something)

Answer 4

We're doing this in physiology...actually it was just today! You have the five most common types of blood, but there are many many more, usually very rare as well.

The negatives and positives used in blood are due to the Rh factor, another type of antigen found in the blood. A- cannot give to A+ because the two contrasting Rh antibodies and antigens cause aggulation (clumping) of the blood.

There are many rare types of blood; the site below provides information on rare blood types and how many donors per month (globally) give certain types of blood.

http://www.bloodbook.com/rare-chart.html

I also suppose you are studying blood. I have been using this site, as childish as it looks, because the pictures really help. It's very accurate and thorough (for a high school course, anyway. =)

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/aniblood.h...

Answer 5

Everybody has a blood type. The most common blood type classification system is the ABO (say "A-B-O") system discovered by Karl Landsteiner in the early 1900s. There are four types of blood in the ABO system: A, B, AB, and O. Your blood type is established before you are born, by specific genes inherited from your parents. You receive one gene from your mother and one from your father; these two combine to establish your blood type. These two genes determine your blood type by causing proteins called agglutinogens (a-GLOO-tin-a-gins) to exist on the surface of all of your red blood  cells.

There are three alleles or versions of the blood type gene: A, B, and O. Since everybody has two copies of these genes, there are six possible combinations; AA, BB, OO, AB, AO, and BO. In genetic terms, these combinations are called genotypes, and they describe the genes you got from your parents.

Answer 6

There are positives and negatives of those blood types. Bombay is the rarest blood type because it doesn't have A or B antigens, but rather the H antigen.

Also,

Blood group AB individuals have both A and B antigens on the surface of their RBCs, and their blood serum does not contain any antibodies against either A or B antigen. Therefore, an individual with type AB blood can receive blood from any group (with AB being preferable), but can donate blood only to another group AB individual.

Blood group A individuals have the A antigen on the surface of their RBCs, and blood serum containing IgM antibodies against the B antigen. Therefore, a group A individual can receive blood only from individuals of groups A or O (with A being preferable), and can donate blood to individuals with type A or AB.

Blood group B individuals have the B antigen on the surface of their RBCs, and blood serum containing IgM antibodies against the A antigen. Therefore, a group B individual can receive blood only from individuals of groups B or O (with B being preferable), and can donate blood to individuals with type B or AB.

Blood group O (or blood group zero in some countries) individuals do not have either A or B antigens on the surface of their RBCs, but their blood serum contains IgM anti-A antibodies and anti-B antibodies against the A and B blood group antigens. Therefore, a group O individual can receive blood only from a group O individual, but can donate blood to individuals of any ABO blood group (ie A, B, O or AB). If anyone needs a blood transfusion in a dire emergency, and if the time taken to process the recipient's blood would cause a detrimental delay, O Negative blood can be issued.