Blood Types and Facts

Blood Types:
O-, O+	Patients with any blood type can receive O negative blood. Type O blood is required and must be available in inventory for newborn babies and emergency patients. O+ is the most frequently occurring blood type and is found in 37 percent of the population. O- is found in six percent of the population.
A+	This blood is the second most frequently occurring blood type. Thirty-four of every 100 people have A+.
A-, B+, B-	Less than 10 percent of the population have these rare blood types.
AB+, AB-	These blood types are the universal donor of plasma. Patients with any blood type can receive this plasma. Only four percent of the population has AB+ and just one in every hundred people have AB-.

Facts About Blood:

Anyone in good health, at least 17 years old, and at least 110 pounds may donate blood every 56 days, or every two months.
Each year more than 4.5 million lives are saved by blood transfusions.
About one in five people admitted to the hospital will need blood.
Up to three: the number of patient that can be treated with one pint of donated blood.
There is no substitute for human blood.
50 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood -- only 5 percent do.
Cancer, trauma patients, and those undergoing open-heart surgery require platelet transfusions to survive.
Blood makes up about 7 percent of your body's weight.
A newborn baby has about one cup of blood in his body.
The actual blood donation usually takes less than 15 minutes. The entire process -- from the time you sign in to the time you leave -- takes about an hour.
You cannot get AIDS or any other infectious disease by donating blood.
Thirteen tests (11 for infectious diseases) are performed on each unit of donated blood.