Red Cross declares crisis over blood shortage in US for second time in its history
www.bbc.com
Fewer donations and higher demand has seen a supply shortage worsen, the American Red Cross tells the BBC.

A blood supply shortage in the US has reached a “crisis” level, according to the American Red Cross, which says it is the second time in its 150-year history that levels have been this low.

Factors including wildfires and extreme heat have combined to create the current situation, Dr Courtney Lawrence, who works with the American Red Cross, told the BBC.

Supply levels dropped by a quarter just last month. The crisis has struck during summer, when the amount of blood needed by hospitals typically increases.

That is because of an increased number of car accidents and more people spending time outdoors, resulting in more injuries that require blood transfusions, Lawrence said.

  • inconsistent_octopus@lemmy.world
    19·
    2 days ago

    Most donor blood is O+

    O- is great because it is (almost always*) usable by anyone of any blood type, but only like 7% of people have it, so the overall supply is not very high and it’s typically reserved for emergencies and O- patients.

    O+ can be given to most people because most people have O+ blood. Something like 30-40% of people have O+ and can thus receive O+ donations. All the Rh+ blood types can receive O+ blood too, which accounts for the vast majority of people. A+ is something like 25-30% of the population and B+ is like 10%. Altogether, O+, A+, B+, and AB+ make up probably about 75-85% of the population, and all of those people can receive O+ blood donations, thus the supply of O+ blood is the most-needed most of the time.

    Obviously they also want as much O- as possible too. Hell, they want all of them all the time except AB type blood from females.

    *Blood typing is actually a lot more complicated than A/B antigen and Rh factor, so some people with certain antigens need very specific donor blood or autologous blood that they donate themselves prior to a procedure or whatnot.

    • cokeslutgarbage@sh.itjust.works
      8·
      2 days ago

      What is different about AB type from females? That describes me and I’ve almost earned my 2 gallon pin, the ladies in the blood mobile are always happy to see me.

      • inconsistent_octopus@lemmy.world
        6·
        2 days ago

        AB type females can develop dangerous antibodies during pregnancy, and so even if you’ve never been pregnant (or think you’ve never been pregnant) there is still statistically an additional risk because there’s no good way to know for certain whether you’ve has ever been pregnant. The tests and screening for blood antibodies are expensive. Because of the heightened risk, taking AB positive female blood can be more expensive and complicated than it’s worth, so many blood banks just don’t actively encourage AB females to donate as often. There is still use for any kind of blood, even if it is used for research or if they use the RBC and waste the plasma. They certainly would never turn you away, but they also won’t regularly pester you the way they will an O- or O+ donor

        AB+ male donor plasma is compatible with all blood types (universal plasma donor) and so they really want that. They call it liquid gold

        I don’t know enough about blood banking specifically but it’s possible that there are some blood banks who have better capacity to screen any female AB plasma for HLA antibodies and so they don’t care as much. Idk. I just know as an AB+ female, my local blood bank was like “Don’t donate unless we tell you we need it”

      • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
        3·
        2 days ago

        I googled it and this is from blood.co.uk:

        Plasma from AB negative donations can help treat patients of all blood types, however fresh frozen plasma is only produced from male donations. This is because female donors (especially those who have been pregnant) can develop antibodies that, while no danger to themselves, can prove life threatening to patients transfused with their plasma.

        To avoid waste and to achieve the balance of plasma and red cells required by patients, we manage AB negative donations differently to other blood groups.

        We encourage our male donors to donate as frequently as possible while asking female donors to wait to donate until contacted directly by us.

        • cokeslutgarbage@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          2 days ago

          Interesting. Thank you for googling for me, I guess I could have done that. I’ll probably google a bit more and maybe add the info here just for infos sake, because this seems to be referring just to ab- and I’m ab+

          Personally, I’ve never been pregnant, but it sounds like the antibodies might still be present even before pregnancy.

          The bloodmobile/bank where i donate is ALWAYS desperate for blood, and I’ve never read or heard anything about this exclusion in my 17 years of donating, the only time I’ve ever been turned away is for low iron.

          • inconsistent_octopus@lemmy.world
            3·
            2 days ago

            Oh it’s not exclusionary. They’ll totally still take your blood. It’s just in the lowest demand in general, and blood banks often tell AB females (both + and -) that they will reach out when they want/need blood donation, rather than telling those donors to come for donations as often as possible like they do for other donors. If you’re willing to donate, by all means keep donating. The blood banks can figure out what to do with it and all blood has its uses!