what is the rarest blood type?

Question

i am RH - and i was told that is the rarest blood type. is this true? if not, what is? do you know anything about RH - blood?

Answer 1

About 15% of causcasian Americans are Rh negative and about 7% of African Americans are Rh negative. It rarely occurs in people of eastern Asian or Native American descent.

The most common blood type is O positive and the rarest is AB negative.

The Rh blood group system is separate from the ABO blood group system, but they are the two blood group systems most commonly tested for in the laboratory blood bank, which is why they are paired together when describing someone's blood type. Generally, if a person has an antigen on his red cells, called "D", then he is considered to be "positive". If he lacks the "D" antigen, then he is considered to be "negative".

Your only concern would be if you were pregnant and your baby was Rh positive. At birth, some of his red cells might cross over into your blood stream, causing you to produce antibodies that would destroy these cells. The only way to prevent your body from forming these antibodies is to inject into you antibodies formed by someone else. These injected antibodies (called Rhogam) quickly destroy any foreign red cells found in your blood stream before your body has a chance to recognize them and form its own antibodies.

If your body forms its own antibodies and you become pregnant with another child who is Rh positive, the antibodies will cross the placental barrier to enter the baby's bloodstream and will begin destroying the baby's blood cells, causing possible death. Doctors routinely offer the Rhogam shot to all Rh negative women, so Rh-related hemolytic disease of the newborn is rarely seen anymore.

If you are Rh negative, you should strongly consider becoming a blood donor. Whenever an Rh negative patient needs blood, it's harder to find compatible blood for him because there are fewer Rh negative donors than Rh positive donors. Rh negative patients can receive only Rh negative blood, but Rh positive patients can receive either Rh positive or Rh negative blood.

Answer 2

Type AB- is the rarest type of blood -(yes, I know about the Bombay phenotype, but that is not the question here). The Rh or Rhesus factor refers to the D antigen. If you have the D antigen you are considered Rh +. If you lack the D antigen you are Rh-. In general the negative Rh's are rarer than their positive counterparts (ie O+ more prevalent than O-; B+ more prevalent than B-; same for types A and AB). Whether you have the "rarest" would also depend on your ABO group as well. For blood transfusion, Rh+ blood should not be given to an Rh- individual if at all possibe --( I have seen trauma cases where after reaching massive transfusion status (8-12 units of blood transfused), we have switched a person to Rh+ blood (with pathologist approval) due to shortage of their type specific Rh- blood.) If an Rh- person receives Rh+ blood then may develop an Anti-D antibody. The Rh also play an important role in pregnancies. If an Rh- woman is carrying an Rh+ fetus (Dad would be Rh+) there is a chance mom could also develop Anti-D. This Anti-D usually does not cause any problems in that pregnancy, but in subsequent pregnancy if the fetus is Rh+ the Anti-D could cross the placenta and start to attack the fetus leading to a potentially fatal condition called Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn. For this reason, Rh- woman are urged by their doctors to receive a Rhogam injection during their pregnancy (usually around 28 wks) and after delivery if the baby is Rh+.

Answer 3

Actually I think the rarest blood type is the Bombay phenotype. They have two recessive alleles of the h gene. This gene is responsible for making the precursor to A and B antigens. Since there are no A(Type A) or B(Type B) antigens, or H precursor(Type O) on their blood cells, these individuals technically have no blood type.

This is an extremely rare phenotype, and people with it can only receive transfusions from other people with the Bombay phenotype. You can read all about it on wikipedia or a college level physiology text. They go into more detail about how the different antigens are made.

Answer 4

Ah if I researched correctly, I do believe RH- is also referred to as AB-! Believe it or not, I'm also AB-, which indeed the doctors say is the rarest type of blood, less than 1% of the population has this blood type (that or 3%, I remember from health class). So yes that is the rarest type, but it is also the Universal Reciever, meaning we can recieve other types of blood too! More info: type in RH- into google, or type in AB- into google. Here is also a good site: http://anthro.palomar.edu/blood/Rh_system.htm

Answer 5

Rh- is a factor of a blood group not a blood type. AB- is the rarest blood type.

Answer 6

rh type usually only becomes significant in pregnancy and childbirth. An Rh neg mother can become sensitized to produce rh pos antibodies after giving birth to an rh pos child meaning that the next child she has if rh pos, is at a high risk of death from hemolytic reaction (the previously formed antibodies killing the red blood cells of the next rh pos infant) So rh neg mothers usually get a shot of rhogam which is an ph pos antibody that thus prevents their body from forming it's own rh pos antibody and decreases the risk of hemolytic reaction in the next rh pos pregnancy

Answer 7

AB+ is the rarest blood type. The positive or negative marking is the RH factor. Negative is a little rarer than positive. However, AB+ is the universal acceptor meaning that if you have AB+, you can transfuse from anybody. O- is the universal donor. If you're AB- make friends with an O-.

Answer 8

My mother in law is RH- it is indeed very rare. My wife and brother in law recived shots while still in the womb to insure they did not have that blood type. RH- is not compatable with any blood type that i know of save another RH-. My mother in law has to carry a card with her or wear a bracelet that says she has this blood type. I could be mistaken but i think it rases your risk of animia (low iorn count) your doctor should be able to give you a full run down of this and tell you things you need to do.

hope this helps i am by no means a doctor nor do i have any type of medical degree . SO PLEASE ASK YOUR DOCTOR!!!

Answer 9

RH is not a blood type its something different blood types are a b or o then positive or negative... o is the rarest

Answer 10

Blood type O