What Is Rh Factor? Understanding Blood Types | Interview with Dr. Lisa Wong — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hey, everyone, I'm Danny Parra
2. 0:01with the American Red Cross.
3. 0:03I'm part of the communications team here,
4. 0:05and we get a lot of questions
5. 0:06about blood donation.
6. 0:08I don't know the answer
7. 0:09to many of those questions,
8. 0:10but luckily
9. 0:11we have very intelligent medical experts
10. 0:14who do know the answers.
11. 0:15And joining me
12. 0:16today is one of those medical experts
13. 0:17and Doctor
14. 0:18Lisa Wong, Medical Director
15. 0:19here at the American Red Cross.
16. 0:21So Doctor Wong,
17. 0:22thanks so much for joining us.
18. 0:23Thanks for having me.
19. 0:24All right.
20. 0:25We're going to get into
21. 0:25the literal ABCs of blood donation.
22. 0:28Let's talk
23. 0:28a little bit about blood types.
24. 0:30What are they?
25. 0:31Where do they come from?
26. 0:32What's this alphabet soup all about?
27. 0:34That's a great question.
28. 0:35I think blood types are so fun.
29. 0:37So you may or may not be aware
30. 0:39that your blood is made up of different,
31. 0:41different parts.
32. 0:42And so you have your red blood cells,
33. 0:43you have your white blood cells,
34. 0:44you have your little platelets
35. 0:46and you have the plasma,
36. 0:47which it kind of all sits in.
37. 0:49And so your blood type
38. 0:51is predominantly determined
39. 0:52by what is sitting,
40. 0:54what is
41. 0:55sitting on top of your red blood cells.
42. 0:56So you can either have a bunch of A
43. 0:59what are called
44. 0:59A antigens sitting on top,
45. 1:01or the other one is also B.
46. 1:03So if you have a bunch of A's,
47. 1:04then you're A blood type,
48. 1:05and if you have a bunch of B's
49. 1:07then you're B blood type,
50. 1:08if you have both,
51. 1:08then you're AB blood type.
52. 1:10And if you have neither,
53. 1:11then you're actually O,
54. 1:12so you have neither A or B
55. 1:13sitting on your red blood cells.
56. 1:16And so that kind of
57. 1:17determines the A, B, AB,
58. 1:19and O.
59. 1:19There's also another protein
60. 1:22that sits on top.
61. 1:23It's called Rh or rhesus factor.
62. 1:25And so
63. 1:26depending on the presence of that protein
64. 1:29you're positive or negative.
65. 1:30So that's where we get
66. 1:31the A positive, A negative.
67. 1:33And so in total
68. 1:34you have those eight types.
69. 1:36And why it's important
70. 1:37is these antigens, the AB
71. 1:39and Rh, they can trigger the immune system
72. 1:42if your immune system is not used to it.
73. 1:44So, you know, if I grew up
74. 1:45and I am in A, A positive
75. 1:48blood type,
76. 1:49my immune system is used to that.
77. 1:50They are used to the A,
78. 1:52and the Rh factor, being positive.
79. 1:55But if you transfuse my blood
80. 1:56into someone
81. 1:57that is, whose body is not used to it,
82. 2:00that can trigger their immune system,
83. 2:02and, cause a reaction
84. 2:04if it's not a compatible type.
85. 2:06And that's why
86. 2:06we care so much about blood types.
87. 2:08And so you said A, B, AB, O.
88. 2:13And then the RH factors,
89. 2:14positive and negative. So,
90. 2:16eight blood types in all
91. 2:17right. But or is it just eight
92. 2:19or are there more blood types out there?
93. 2:21Yeah.
94. 2:22So there are actually many blood types.
95. 2:23Like you said there's the A, B, AB, O
96. 2:26plus or minus the Rh factor.
97. 2:28But there are actually
98. 2:30what we call more minor antigens
99. 2:32that also sit on top.
100. 2:34And that can create countless,
101. 2:36blood types.
102. 2:37So there actually are many rare
103. 2:39blood types as well.
104. 2:40And when I say rare,
105. 2:41I mean fewer than 1 in 1000
106. 2:43people have the constellation of,
107. 2:46antigens on that on the red cell.
108. 2:49So rare blood
109. 2:50means either
110. 2:51you're missing one of the most common
111. 2:53antigens,
112. 2:54that most people in the population have,
113. 2:56or you're missing
114. 2:57a combination of antigens.
115. 2:59That's great to know.
116. 3:01So why is it
117. 3:02that hospitals want to keep a steady
118. 3:04and strong supply of Rh
119. 3:06negative blood on hand?
120. 3:08Yeah.
121. 3:08So, that that has a,
122. 3:10that's a nuanced question.
123. 3:11I think generally what we do try to do,
124. 3:14is we want to give compatible
125. 3:16or similar blood to similar.
126. 3:18So a similar donor
127. 3:19giving blood to like patients
128. 3:22and because Rh is more rare
129. 3:25or more uncommon,
130. 3:27it is harder to, to find and collect.
131. 3:30And so
132. 3:31hospitals in general have a harder time
133. 3:34stockpiling that Rh negative blood.
134. 3:37And when a patient
135. 3:38comes in through their door
136. 3:39that is Rh negative,
137. 3:40it is nice to have that
138. 3:41Rh negative blood.
139. 3:43And so Doctor Wong,
140. 3:43it sounds like blood
141. 3:44types are a big deal.
142. 3:46Rh factor - very important
143. 3:48in blood donation and blood transfusion.
144. 3:51So thanks so much for walking
145. 3:52us through all of that.
146. 3:54And, if you have any more questions
147. 3:56about blood types,
148. 3:56Rh factors
149. 3:57and any questions
150. 3:58really about donating blood,
151. 4:00just head over to RedCrossBlood.org.