The Last Poster Wins! [v21]

[Neo Emolga]

@Neo Emogla well O+ is one of the most needed because it's a very common blood type and needed in most blood transfusions so that's probably why they're hounding you.

When I did it I got a free sweatshirt, gummy candies, and juice.

Yep, I got a free gift when I donated. I got this very handy toolkit and they gave out free cookies and juice drinks (which I think they give not just to be generous, but also because the sugar in those makes up for the blood loss or something like that).

Those universal donors are so needed. It's O- that's rare if I remember right. Because only O- can donate to O-. Yet O- is THE universal donor....right?

Yeah, they're currently at very low levels, so that's also why they're poking me all the time to donate. But yeah, they want anyone who can donate to at least try. I'd do it more often if I didn't feel so light-headed afterword.

So here's how it works. Generally speaking negative blood types are rarer than positive blood types. Positives can accept negative blood donations within their own blood type, ie A positive can receive A negative, but cannot receive B negative. Negatives, however, can only take their own blood type, which is one of the reasons O negatives are needed so badly is because O negative can only take O negative. O negative is also the universal donor which is why the blood packs they keep in ambulances are always O negatives, because anyone can take it.

Rarity wise, AB blood types are the rarest, with AB negative being the rarest blood type. AB positive is the second rarest, B negative is third, A negative is fourth, O negative is fifth, and B positive is sixth with all them (at least in Caucasians) being below 10% in regards to how many people have them. The only two above 10% in Caucasians are A+ and O+ because of how the genetics work.

So as I said before O negative is the universal donor, but that's generally only for red blood cells. For plasma donations, it's AB (doesn't matter if it's positive or negative). In addition, the universal receiver is AB positive because it can take donations from all forms of blood. AB negative technically falls into this category as well but since it can't take AB positive blood, it somewhat falls short.

Oddly enough in my family I have some of the rarest blood types, with my grandfather on my dad's side being AB+, my grandma on my dad's side, my mother, my aunt, and I all being O-, and my father is a B+.

Wow, girl, you rock at explaining American football AND blood types!

It's strange, in my family, we have blood types all over the spectrum. Crazy how these things sometimes work. XD

[Noblejanobii]

Yep, I got a free gift when I donated. I got this very handy toolkit and they gave out free cookies and juice drinks (which I think they give not just to be generous, but also because the sugar in those makes up for the blood loss or something like that).

That is exactly why they do that! See when you donate blood, your blood sugar and iron levels drop. So they give you cookies or sweets to bring the sugar levels back up and juices to get more vitamins like irons back into your body! It's also to keep you from passing out. It's also why they advice eating meat or beans afterwards, you need the protein.

Wow, girl, you rock at explaining American football AND blood types!

It's strange, in my family, we have blood types all over the spectrum. Crazy how these things sometimes work. XD

You flatter me! I just know a lot of random trivia and I like to share it!

It's all about them genetics. I can't really remember exactly how it works other than Os are generally recessive. So if you have a lot of mixes it means some people in your family are carrying the O gene and it's just not showing up.

[Neo Emolga]

That is exactly why they do that! See when you donate blood, your blood sugar and iron levels drop. So they give you cookies or sweets to bring the sugar levels back up and juices to get more vitamins like irons back into your body! It's also to keep you from passing out. It's also why they advice eating meat or beans afterwards, you need the protein.

I mean really, who could possibly say no to FREE COOKIES!? The fun, free gifts are always nice, also, but I know not every place does that.

You flatter me! I just know a lot of random trivia and I like to share it!

It's all about them genetics. I can't really remember exactly how it works other than Os are generally recessive. So if you have a lot of mixes it means some people in your family are carrying the O gene and it's just not showing up.

Yeah, that sounds about right. I think I'm the only one on the family that has O type blood, so it's probably related to those reasons.

[Noblejanobii]

I mean really, who could possibly say no to FREE COOKIES!? The fun, free gifts are always nice, also, but I know not every place does that.

Well that too. Yeah my school just gave us shirts. They only had XLs left when I went so new bed time shirt.

Yeah, that sounds about right. I think I'm the only one on the family that has O type blood, so it's probably related to those reasons.

Mhm and A and B are generally like equally dominate so it just depends on what gets passed. Usually one will become submissive and become "hidden" but can be passed to the kids. In rare cases, they'll become co-dominant, hence why we have AB and why they're so rare.