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.
There are eight recognized blood types, they are A, B, AB and O Positives (Rh+) and their negative (Rh-) counterparts; A-, B-, AB- and O-. First, we will see how our individual Blood Type Letter is directly determined by the blood types of both of our parents. Next, we will see how the Rh Factor we inherit then fits in, to create the other four (Rh-) negative blood types. We all have 1 Blood Type, but we all carry 2 individual blood type letters. The Inheritance Rule says that each parent must give one of their blood type letters to each of their children. As a result, we get our blood type directly from both of our parents! Want to learn more? Visit the Blood Types and Rh-Negative 101 page.