Ventricular fibrillation is one type of arrhythmia that can be deadly. It occurs when the heart beats with rapid, erratic electrical impulses. This causes pumping chambers in your heart (the ventricles) to quiver uselessly instead of pumping blood. Without an effective heartbeat, blood pressure plummets, cutting off blood supply to your vital organs.
In the ABO system, (and Rhesus D system) all blood belongs to one of four major groups: A+/â, B+/â, AB+/â, or O+/â. The presence (+) or absence (â) of the RhD (Rhesus D) antigen is indicated by the plus or minus following the ABO type. But there are more than two hundred minor blood groups that can complicate blood transfusions. These are known as rare blood types.
Over 100 years ago, it was discovered that people have different types of blood. The major types are O, A, B and AB. For a blood donation to be helpful to a patient, there has to be an appropriate match between the blood type of the donor and that of therecipient. Some types happily mix, while others do not. The common Type O can be safely transfused to patients with O, A, B or AB blood, but Type O patients can only receive blood from other Type O people. Each major blood group is divided into Rh negative or positive types. On average, 45% of the population is Type O, 40% Type A, 10% Type B, and 5% Type AB. Check the chart to see where you fit in. Is Your Blood Type Rare?