ASSIGNMENT No.

Research on the different blood types.

A.Four Blood Groups

It might seem like blood is blood — it all looks pretty much the same to the naked eye.
But although all blood contains the same basic components (red cells, white cells, platelets,
and plasma), not everyone has the same types of markers on the surface of their red blood
cells. These markers (also called antigens) are proteins and sugars that our bodies use to
identify the blood cells as belonging in our own system.

Blood cell markers are microscopic. But they can make the difference between blood
being accepted or rejected after a transfusion. So medical experts group blood into types
based on the different markers.

The four main blood groups are:

1. Type A. This blood type has a marker known as "A."
2. Type B. This blood type has a marker known as "B."
3. Type AB. The blood cells in this type have both A and B markers.
4. Type O. This blood type has neither A or B markers.

Plus Rh Factor...
Some people have an additional marker, called Rh factor, in their blood. Because each of
the four main blood groups (A, B, AB, and O) may or may not have Rh factor, scientists
further classify blood as either "positive" (meaning it has Rh factor) or "negative" (without
Rh factor).
Having any of these markers (or none of them) doesn't make a person's blood any healthier
or stronger. It's just a genetic difference, like having green eyes instead of blue or straight
hair instead of curly.

The Eight Blood Types

The different markers that can be found in blood make up eight possible blood types:
1. O negative. This blood type doesn't have A or B markers, and it doesn't have Rh factor.
2. O positive. This blood type doesn't have A or B markers, but it does have Rh factor. O positive blood is
one of the two most common blood types (the other being A positive).
3. A negative. This blood type has A marker only.
4. A positive. This blood type has A marker and Rh factor, but not B marker. Along with O positive, it's
one of the two most common blood types.
5. B negative. This blood type has B marker only.
6. B positive. This blood type has B marker and Rh factor, but not A marker.

AB negative. This blood type has A and B markers, but not Rh factor.
AB positive. This blood type has all three types of markers — A, B, and Rh factor.
Blood banks and hospitals keep careful tabs on blood type to be sure that donated blood
matches the blood type of the person receiving the transfusion. Giving someone the wrong
blood type can cause serious health problems.

Why Blood Type Matters

The immune system produces proteins known as antibodies that act as protectors if
foreign cells enter the body. Depending on which blood type you have, your immune
system will produce antibodies to react against other blood types.
If a patient is given the wrong blood type, the antibodies immediately set out to destroy the
invading cells. This aggressive, whole-body response can give someone a fever, chills, and
low blood pressure. It can even lead vital body systems — like breathing or kidneys — to
fail.
Here's an example of how the blood type-antibody process works: Let's say you have Type
A blood. Because your blood contains the A marker, it produces B antibodies. If B markers
(found in Type B or AB blood) enter your body, your Type A immune system gets fired up
against them. That means you can only get a transfusion from someone with A or O blood,
not from someone with B or AB blood.
 In the same way, if you have the B marker, your body produces A antibodies. So as a
person with Type B blood, you could get a transfusion from someone with B or O blood, but
not A or AB.
Things are a little different for people with Type AB or Type O blood. If you have both A
and B markers on the surface of your cells (Type AB blood), your body does not need to
fight the presence of either. This means that someone with AB blood can get a transfusion
from someone with A, B, AB, or O blood.
But if you have Type O blood, meaning your red blood cells have neither A or B markers,
your body will have both A and B antibodies and will therefore feel the need to defend itself
against A, B, and AB blood. So a person with O blood can only get a transfusion with O
blood.
Type O-negative blood can be given to people with any blood type. That's because it
has none of the markers that can set off a reaction. People with this blood type are considered
"universal donors" and are in great demand at blood banks.
Because Type AB-positive blood has all the markers, people with this type can receive
any blood type. They're called "universal recipients."
Blood transfusions are one of the most frequent lifesaving procedures hospitals perform. So
there's always a need for blood donors. About 15% of blood donors are high school and
college students — an impressive number when you consider you have to be 16 or 17 to
donate blood.

B. My family members and their blood types.

Father- Type ‘A”

Mother- Type “A”
Eldest brother- “A”
Youngest Brother- “A”
Mine- “A”
 ASSIGNMENT
IN
SCIENCE

Submitted by:

ALYSSA M. SADJI
VI-Aragon

Submitted to:

MRS. CATHY CRIS B. ANTIOJO

Science Teacher
 Ebola blood samples stolen in Guinea; this is how terrorists can easily acquire the
bioweapon

(NaturalNews) One of the chief concerns about the Ebola virus is that, someday, it could be turned into a deadly
bioweapon and used to kill tens of millions of people around the world.

So far -- at least publicly -- no country has admitted to having successfully "weaponized" the virus, even though
bioweapons have been used for centuries and modern governments (and terrorist groups) are still believed to be
developing them.

That said, the virus doesn't have to be "weaponized" per se, in order to be utilized as a true "bioweapon." What
happens if, say, samples of tainted blood were to turn up missing - perhaps through theft -- and spread through
direct contact to unsuspecting victims?

According to The Canadian Press (CP), blood samples believed to be infected with the deadly virus were stolen
recently by bandits during a highway robbery when they stopped a taxi in the Ebola-ridden West African
country of Guinea.

As the CP reported, officials are attempting to retrieve the potential bioweapon:

Authorities publicly appealed on national radio Friday to the unidentified robbers to hand over the samples that
were stolen from the taxi during its 265-kilometre (165-mile) trek on winding rural roads from the central
Kankan prefecture to a test site in southern Gueckedou.

If they handle it, that's dangerous

The samples were harbored in tightly wrapped vials and placed in a cooler bag. They were being transported in
the care of a courier with the Red Cross who was among nine passengers sharing a single taxi when it was
stopped by three bandits riding a motor bike near the town of Kissidougou, according to local Red Cross
officials.

The CP reported that the bandits forced the taxi's occupants out of the vehicle, then took their cellphones,
jewelry, cash and other valuables, firing weapons into the air while demanding the cooler bag, according to Saa
Mamady Leno, a Red Cross official in Gueckedou. Police later questioned the courier, Abubakar Donzo.

A Guinea Red Cross spokesman, Faya Etienne Tolno, told the CP that the organization was short of transport
vehicles, so officials turned to using a taxi for transport of the tainted samples. The report said no one was
injured in the theft, which occurred on a route known for banditry.

"We don't understand why they stole the blood sample. Perhaps they thought there was cash hidden in the
flask," Tolno told the CP.

The head of patient care for the national Ebola response coordination committee, Guinea Dr. Barry Moumie,
told The Associated Press that officials "have informed the security services."

"If these thieves handle this blood," he noted, "it will be dangerous."
"I can assure you, however, that the sample-transportation procedures will now be strengthened to avoid such
disappointments," he added, as reported by Britain's Daily Mail.

Spread to Mali

More than 5,000 people have died from the deadly virus, most in West Africa, in what has become the worst
outbreak since Ebola was discovered in 1976.

Worse, the disease appears to be spreading. As the Daily Mail noted:

[A] doctor in Mali died of Ebola after treating an imam who also succumbed to the disease, taking the total toll
in the west African country up to seven, health authorities said.
The World Health Organization said the virus was 'almost certainly re-introduced into Mali by a 70-year-old
Grand Imam from Guinea, who was admitted to Bamako's Pasteur clinic on 25 October and died on 27
October.'
The paper said the physician had been treated for Ebola for almost two weeks, citing the Malian health ministry.
In all, five infections -- all of which have proven fatal -- have been tied to the imam.