ABO Grouping

ABO grouping is a test performed to determine an individual's blood type. It is

based on the premise that individuals have antigens on their red blood cells (RBCs)
that correspond to the four main blood groups: A, B, O, and AB

ABO blood group system, the classification of human blood based on the
inherited properties of red blood cells (erythrocytes) as determined by the
presence or absence of the antigens A and B, which are carried on the surface of
the red cells. Persons may thus have type A, type B, type O, or type AB blood. The
A, B, and O blood groups were first identified by Austrian immunologist Karl
Landsteiner in 1901.

The ABO system

There are four main blood groups defined by the ABO system:

• blood group A – has A antigens on the red blood cells with anti-B
antibodies in the plasma .Donor blood gropu are A,O.
•
• blood group B – has B antigens with anti-A antibodies in the plasma .Donor
Blood Groups are B,O.
•
• blood group O – has no antigens, but both anti-A and anti-B antibodies in
the plasma .Donor group is O.
•
• blood group AB – has both A and B antigens, but no antibodies . Donor
group are AB,A,B,O

ABO blood group system

The ABO blood group system involves two antigens and two antibodies found in
human blood. The two antigens are antigen A and antigen B. The two antibodies
are antibody A and antibody B. The antigens are present on the red blood cells and
the antibodies in the serum. Regarding the antigen property of the blood all human
beings can be classified into 4 groups, those with antigen A (group A), those with
antigen B (group B), those with both antigen A and B (group AB) and those with
neither antigen (group O). The antibodies present together with the antigens are
found as follows:

1. Antigen A with antibody B

2. Antigen B with antibody A
3. Antigen AB has no antibodies
4. Antigen nil (group O) with antibody A and B.

Rh factor:

An antigen found on the surface of red blood cells. Red blood cells with the
antigen are said to be Rh positive (Rh+). Those without the surface antigen are
said to be Rh negative (Rh-). Blood used in transfusions much match donors for
Rh status as well as for ABO blood group, as Rh- patients will develop anemia
if given R+ blood. Rh typing is also important during abortion, miscarriage,
pregnancy, and birth, as mother and fetus may not be Rh-compatible. Rh stands
for rhesus monkeys, in whose blood this antigen was first found.

Rh blood group system, system for classifying blood groups according to the
presence or absence of the Rh antigen, often called the Rh factor, on the cell
membranes of the red blood cells (erythrocytes). The designation Rh is derived
from the use of the blood of rhesus monkeys in the basic test for determining
the presence of the Rh antigen in human blood.

The Rh antigen poses a danger for the Rh-negative person, who lacks the antigen,
if Rh-positive blood is given in transfusion. Adverse effects may not occur the first
time Rh-incompatible blood is given, but the immune system responds to the
foreign Rh antigen by producing anti-Rh antibodies. If Rh-positive blood is given
again after the antibodies form, they will attack the foreign red blood cells, causing
them to clump together, or agglutinate. The resulting hemolysis, or destruction of
the red blood cells, causes serious illness and sometimes death.

A similar hazard exists during pregnancy for the Rh-positive offspring of Rh-
incompatible parents, when the mother is Rh-negative and the father is Rh-
positive. The first child of such parents is usually in no danger unless the mother
has acquired anti-Rh antibodies by virtue of incompatible blood transfusion.
During labour, however, a small amount of the fetus’s blood may enter the
mother’s bloodstream. The mother will then produce anti-Rh antibodies, which
will attack any Rh-incompatible fetus in subsequent pregnancies. This process
produces erythroblastosis fetalis, or hemolytic disease of the newborn,
which can be fatal to the fetus or to the infant shortly after birth. Treatment of
erythroblastosis fetalis usually entails one or more exchange transfusions. The
disease can be avoided by vaccinating the mother with Rh immunoglobulin after
delivery of her firstborn if there is Rh-incompatibility. The Rh vaccine destroys
any fetal blood cells before the mother’s immune system can develop antibodies.

Erythroblastosis fetalis, also called hemolytic disease of the newborn, type of

anemia in which the red blood cells (erythrocytes) of a fetus are destroyed in a
maternal immune reaction resulting from a blood group incompatibility between
the fetus and its mother. This incompatibility arises when the fetus inherits a
certain blood factor from the father that is absent in the mother. Symptoms of
erythroblastosis fetalis range from mild to severe; death of the fetus or newborn
sometimes results.

Two blood group systems, Rh and ABO, primarily are associated with
erythroblastosis fetalis. The Rh system is responsible for the most severe form of
the disease, which can occur when an Rh-negative woman (a woman whose blood
cells lack the Rh factor) conceives an Rh-positive fetus. Sensitization of the
mother’s immune system (immunization) occurs when fetal red blood cells that
carry the Rh factor (an antigen in this context) cross the placental barrier and enter
the mother’s bloodstream. They stimulate the production of antibodies, some of
which pass across the placenta into fetal circulation and lyse, or break apart, the
red blood cells of the fetus (hemolysis).