AB negative blood type
Your blood type is determined by genes inherited from your parents. Whether your blood type is rare, common or somewhere in between, your donations are vital in helping save and improve lives. You can register online to give blood
How rare is AB negative blood?
1 in 100 donors is AB negative
AB negative is the rarest blood type in the ABO blood group, accounting for just 1% of our blood donors.
In total only 3% of donors belong to the AB blood group.
Who can receive AB negative blood?
AB negative and AB positive people
You can receive AB negative red blood cells if you are:
- AB positive blood
- AB negative blood
What blood can AB negative people receive?
Any Rh negative blood type
People with AB negative blood can receive donations from:
- A negative donors
- B negative donors
- AB negative donors
- O negative donors
Why is AB negative blood important?
It’s the rarest blood type
AB negative donations are extremely versatile, but because it is the rarest blood type finding new donors can be a challenge.
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, AB negative donations are manged differently to other blood groups.
As the scarcest blood type, relatively small changes in the number of donations collected or requested by hospital can have a dramatic and immediate effect on the amount of AB negative blood stored.
