Those with Rh negative factor will produce the antibodies. Therefore, someone with Rh+ blood can receive both Rh+ and Rh- transfusions, but those with Rh- can only receive Rh- blood. Blood type and Rh factor screening are done not only to categorize a blood donation.
Having an Rh negative blood type is not an illness, and it usually does not affect your health. But it can affect pregnancy. Your pregnancy needs special care if you're Rh negative and your baby is Rh positive. That's called Rh incompatibility.
The Rh factor is a protein that can be found on the surface of red blood cells. If your blood cells have this protein, you are Rh positive. If your blood cells do not have this protein, you are Rh negative. The "positive" or "negative" part of your blood type, such as O positive or A negative, refers to your Rh status.
If your red blood cells don't have the protein, you're Rh-negative. Being Rh-positive or Rh-negative doesn't affect your health. But it can affect your baby during pregnancy if you're Rh-negative and your baby is Rh-positive. You can find out if you're Rh-positive or negative with a blood test.
For example, people who are Rh-negative may be immune to some of the effects of the parasite called Toxoplasma. This parasite is found to invade our body and cause damage to the brain, particularly in babies. Therefore, in places with a lot of Toxoplasma, having Rh negative type of blood might be advantageous.
Only people with at least one Rh-negative factors will have a negative blood type, which is why the occurrence of Rh-negative blood is less common than Rh-positive blood.
This is because an Rh-positive blood transfusion can cause a person with Rh negative blood to make antibodies against the Rh factor, causing a transfusion reaction (discussed below). If an Rh-negative woman makes antibodies like this, it can seriously harm any Rh-positive babies she may have in the future.
So when we say someone's blood is “negative,” we really mean it's Rh negative. Rh factor, or Rhesus factor, refers to a protein that can be found on the surface of red blood cells. Fun fact: “Rhesus” refers to rhesus monkeys, who also have the Rh factor gene.
Blood is further classified as being either "Rh positive" (meaning it has Rh factor) or "Rh negative" (without Rh factor). So, there are eight possible blood types: O negative. This blood type doesn't have A or B markers, and it doesn't have Rh factor.
During pregnancy, some fetal blood cells may occasionally escape into the mother's circulation, exposing her to potentially Rh positive blood cells. If this occurs, an Rh negative mother's immune system will recognize these cells as foreign and produce antibodies against them called anti-D antibodies.
Rh status is inherited from our parents, separately from our blood type. If you inherit the dominant Rhesus D antigen from one or both of your parents, then you are Rh-positive (85% of us). If you do not inherit the Rhesus D antigen from either parent, then you are Rh-negative (15% of us).
Basques were found to have the highest incidence of Rh negative blood of any people in the world, significantly higher than the rest of Europe, even significantly higher than neighboring regions of France and Spain.
Whilst “golden blood” is still part of the Rh system, it is the rarest known type. It is Rh-null: 61 Rh antigens are absent in it. If you're Rh negative, you still have some Rh proteins but you have more missing than you have present. If you're Rh-null, you have none of these antigens at all.
What's the rarest blood type? AB negative is the rarest of the eight main blood types - just 1% of our donors have it. Despite being rare, demand for AB negative blood is low and we don't struggle to find donors with AB negative blood.
The answer to this really important question is yes. The reason is that people who test negative for Rh aren't always Rh-.
If a woman who is Rh negative and a man who is Rh positive conceive a baby, the fetus may have Rh-positive blood, inherited from the father. (About half of the children born to an Rh-negative mother and Rh-positive father will be Rh-positive.)
The Rh factor is a protein on the covering of the red blood cells. If the Rh factor protein is on the cells, the person is Rh positive. If there's no Rh factor protein, the person is Rh negative. A baby may have the blood type and Rh factor of either parent, or a combination of both parents.
Of the eight main blood types, people with Type O have the lowest risk for heart attacks and blood clots in the legs and lungs. This may be because people with other blood types have higher levels of certain clotting factors, which are proteins that cause blood to coagulate (solidify).
Whilst only 6.5% of the Australian population are group O RhD negative, group O RhD negative red blood cells have represented up to 17% of issues to Australian health providers.
Blood type A is the oldest, and existed even before the human race evolved from our ancestors.
Rh Negative Blood Types:
Rh factors are genetically determined. A baby may have the blood type and Rh factor of either parent, or a combination of both parents. Rh factors follow a common pattern of genetic inheritance.
Usually your Rh factor blood type isn't an issue. But during pregnancy, being Rh-negative can be a problem if your baby is Rh-positive. If your blood and your baby's blood mix, your body will start to make antibodies that can damage your baby's red blood cells.