Blood typing is a way of finding out what kind of blood you have.

Blood is made of red cells that

carry oxygen and other things in your body. Red cells have different markers on them that tell your
body if they belong to you or not. These markers are called antigens. Your body also has proteins
that can fight off things that don't belong to you. These proteins are called antibodies. Blood typing
is important for giving or getting blood from someone else, because you need to have matching
blood types. If not, your body will attack the other person's blood and make you sick.

There are two main ways of naming blood types: ABO and Rh. The ABO system has four blood types:
A, B, AB and O. Each type has a different mix of A and B antigens on the red cells and anti-A and anti-
B antibodies in the liquid part of the blood. For example, type A blood has A antigens and anti-B
antibodies, while type O blood has no antigens and both antibodies. The Rh system has one main
antigen: Rh(D), which can be there (+) or not there (-) on the red cells. So, there are eight possible
blood types: A+, A-, B+, B-, AB+, AB-, O+ and O-.

When you need to get blood from someone else, the other person's red cells must match your
antibodies. Otherwise, your antibodies will stick to the other person's antigens and make them
clump together (agglutinate) and break (hemolyze). This can hurt your organs like your kidneys,
make your blood pressure drop and even kill you. To avoid this, doctors do blood typing tests before
giving you blood to find out your ABO and Rh types and the other person's types.

Some blood types can give or get blood from anyone, but others can only give or get blood from
certain types. This is based on the ABO system only and not on other antigens that may cause
problems. In general, type O- blood can give blood to anyone because it has no antigens that can be
seen by anyone's antibodies. Type AB+ blood can get blood from anyone because it has no
antibodies that can see anyone's antigens. But these types are not common and doctors usually try
to match blood types more closely to be safe.

Blood typing is also important for pregnant women and their babies. If a woman has Rh- blood and
her baby has Rh+ blood (from the father), she may make anti-Rh antibodies that can go to the baby's
blood and attack the baby's red cells. This can make the baby sick with a condition called hemolytic
disease of the newborn (HDN), which can cause low red cell count, yellow skin and eyes and brain
damage in the baby. To stop this, Rh- women get a shot of Rh immunoglobulin during pregnancy and
after birth, which stops any Rh antigens from making them make antibodies.

To sum up, blood typing is a useful way of making sure you get the right blood from someone else or
give the right blood to someone else. It uses tests to find out the antigens and antibodies of both
people using two systems: ABO and Rh. It also helps to know who can give or get blood from who
based on their ABO and Rh types.
References:

Anatomy & physiology. (n.d.). Blood typing. In UH Pressbooks. https://pressbooks-

dev.oer.hawaii.edu/anatomyandphysiology/chapter/blood-typing/

Biomed Guide. (n.d.). Blood types: Antigens, antibodies and transfusions.

https://biomedguide.com/biology/blood-type-antigens-antibodies-and-transfusions/

OpenStax. (2019). Blood typing. In Anatomy & physiology 2e (pp. 696-699). Rice University
Pressbooks. https://openstax.org/books/anatomy-and-physiology-2e/pages/18-6-blood-typing