Why Should You Donate Blood? | Blood Donation Awareness

It’s true that we can’t manufacture blood in factories, it can only come from donors.

Blood donation is the easiest and the most powerful way to make an impact. You can save up to 4 lives with each unit of blood after the donation.

Every year on 14 June, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day (WBDD).

Blood is made up of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets in a liquid called plasma. Your blood group is identified by antibodies and antigens in the blood.

Antibodies are proteins found in plasma. They’re part of your body’s natural defenses. They recognize foreign substances, such as germs, and alert your immune system, which destroys them.

Antigens are protein molecules found on the surface of red blood cells.

After the donation blood is collected in plastic bags which contain a fluid which prevents blood from getting coagulated. Blood banks usually draw 450ml of blood when the blood donation is in the blood bank and 350ml when the blood donation is in a blood donation camp (outside the hospital). This blood, along with the anti-coagulant present in the bottle or bag, is known as one unit of blood.

1. Why should we donate blood?

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Why do we need blood?

• There is no substitute for blood.
• Every 2/3 seconds someone needs blood transfusion.
• Blood donation helps save the life of up to 3 or 4 people.

There are many situations in which patients need blood to stay alive:

• A patient needs blood after a major accident in which there is loss of blood.
• No major surgery is performed without blood. (On an average, for every open heart surgery about 6 units of blood is required.)
• In miscarriage or childbirth, the patient may need a lot of blood to be transfused to saving her life and also the child’s.
• For patients with blood diseases like severe Anemia (especially Aplastic Anemia), Leukemia (blood cancer), Hemophilia (bleeding disorder), and Thalassemia etc. repeated blood transfusions are the only solution.
• In many other situations like poisoning, drug reactions, shock, burns, blood transfusion is the only way to save precious human life.

2. What does blood do?

When a donor has given blood, special equipment is used to separate the donation into different blood components, including:

• Red blood cells – these transport oxygen around the body and are used to treat anemia.
• Platelets – these help to stop the bleeding when a person is cut or injured; platelet transfusions can be used to prevent excessive bleeding in certain groups of people with low platelet counts, such as those having chemotherapy treatment (powerful medication to treat cancers)
• Plasma – a liquid that makes up most of the volume of blood; plasma contains many nutrients needed by the body’s cells, as well as proteins that help the blood to clot if a patient is bleeding
• White blood cells – these are used to fight from infection.

There are four main blood groups (types of blood) – A, B, AB and O. Your blood group is determined by the genes you inherit from your parents.

Each blood group can be either RhD positive or RhD negative.

                      A RhD positive (A+)

                      A RhD negative (A-)

                      B RhD positive (B+)

                      B RhD negative (B-)

                      O RhD positive (O+)

                      O RhD negative (O-)

                      AB RhD positive (AB+)

                      AB RhD negative (AB-)

3. What is ABO system?

The ABO blood group system is the most important blood type system (or blood group system) in human blood transfusion.

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.
• Blood group B– has B antigens with anti-A antibodies in the plasma.
• Blood group O– has no antigens, but both anti-A and anti-B antibodies in the plasma.
• Blood group AB– has both A and B antigens, but no antibodies.

Receiving blood from the wrong ABO group can be life threatening. For example, if someone with group B blood is given group A blood, their anti-A antibodies will attack the group A cells.

This is why group A blood must never be given to someone who has group B blood and vice versa.

As group O red blood cells don’t have any A or B antigens, it can safely be given to any other group.

Red blood cells sometimes have another antigen, a protein known as the RhD antigen. If this is present, your blood group is RhD positive. If it’s absent, your blood group is RhD negative.

In most cases, O RhD negative blood (O-) can safely be given to anyone. It’s often used in medical emergencies when the blood type isn’t immediately known.

4.  Who can donate blood?     

Most people are able to give blood, but only 4% actually do. You can donate blood if :

• You are fit and healthy.
• You are between age group of 18-60 years.
• Your weight is 45 kgs or more.
• Your hemoglobin is 12.5 gm. % minimum.
• Your last blood donation was 3 months earlier.
• You are healthy and have not suffered from malaria, typhoid or other transmissible disease in the recent past.

5. Who can’t donate blood?

Do not donate blood if you have any of these conditions such as:

• Cold / fever in the past 1 week.
• Under treatment with antibiotics or any other medication.
• Cardiac problems, hypertension, epilepsy, diabetes (on insulin therapy), history of cancer, chronic kidney or liver disease, bleeding tendencies, venereal disease etc.
• Major surgery in the last 6 months.
• Vaccination in the last 24 hours.
• Had a miscarriage in the last 6 months or have been pregnant / lactating in the last one year.
• Had fainting attacks during last donation.
• Have regularly received treatment with blood products.
• Shared a needle to inject drugs/ have history of drug addiction.
• Had sexual relations with different partners or with a high risk individual.
• Been tested positive for antibodies to HIV.

              Pregnancy and Menstrual Cycle

• Females should not donate blood during pregnancy.
• They can donate after 6 months following a normal delivery and when they are not breast feeding.
• Females should not donate blood if they are having heavy menstrual flow or menstrual cramps.

6. What happens to patients who are given incompatible blood or mismatched blood?

The following symptoms may occur after only a few ‘ml’ of blood have been given:

• Patient complains of shivering, restlessness, nausea and vomiting. There is pericardial and lumbar pain.
• Cold, clammy skin with cyanosis.
• Pulse rate increases, respiratory rate increases. Temperature increases to 38 to 40°C. [101 to 105 F].
• Blood pressure falls and patient passes into a state of shock.
• Hemoglobinemia (urine turns red); oliguria (urine becomes scanty or the urinary output is reduced) and anuria (total output of urine becomes 200 ml. a day)
• Jaundice appears after a few hours and in some cases anuria persists and uremia develops. This may lead to death.

7. How long can blood be stored?

If the blood has not been segregated in its components, it can be stored for up to 35 days, when kept in CPDA anti-coagulant solution and refrigerated at 2-4 degree C.

For segregated components, the storage time varies as mentioned below:

1. Platelet Concentrate   – 5 days
2. Platelet Apheresis       – 5 days
3. Platelet Rich Plasma   – 5 days
4. Packed Cells                 – 35 days
5. Fresh Frozen Plasma – 1 year
6. Cryo Anti Hemophilic Factor – 1 year
7. Cryo Poor Plasma – 5 years

8.  Is the collected blood tested before transfusion?

ALL the blood collected in the blood bank is tested for the following diseases:

• Hepatitis B & C
• Malarial parasite
• HIV I & II (AIDS)
• Venereal disease (Syphilis)

Blood Group and compatibility tests always done before issuing the blood. The results of these tests are kept highly confidential and not shared with anyone. Only in case of major ailments found in the donated blood, is the donor informed about it.

Now with technical advancements, we can make components of blood and store them. For example, plasma can be separated from whole blood and stored up to one year in frozen state at -80 deg C temperature or below. This is called Fresh Frozen Plasma. This is because many patients do not require whole blood.

9. Do blood use ‘0’ as a universal donor to transfuse to people with other blood groups?

It is only under emergencies the blood banks take O group as universal donor and AB groups as universal recipient. Also, under no circumstances O group can get any other blood except O. Similarly a group patient cannot be given B group blood and vice versa.

  10.   Benefits of Blood Donation

It is always good to plan for blood donation. You can consult your doctor before donating blood. Take healthy diet week before the donation. Also make sure that you are well hydrate so you should drink a lot of water and wear comfortable cloths during blood donation.

Weight loss

Blood donation reduces the weight of the donors. It helps to those who obese and are at higher risk of cardiovascular diseases and other health disorders.

Healthy heart and liver

It also reduces the risk of heart and liver aliments caused by iron overload in the body. Increment of Iron level in the body is harmful for the body This turn increases the risk of cirrhosis, Liver failure, damage of pancreas, and heart abnormalities like irregular heart rhythms. Blood donation helps to maintaining the Iron level.

Anti-cancer benefits

By donating blood, the iron stores in the body are maintained at healthy levels which is liked up with low cancer risk.

Hemochromatosis

Blood donation reduced of hemochromatosis. It is a health condition that arises due to excess absorption of iron by the body.

Free medical test

During the blood donation, donors are tested for syphilis, HIV, hepatitis, and other diseases. Testing indicates whether or not you are eligible to donate based on what is found in your bloodstream. It is a kind of free medical test of the donor, by that donor gets to know about his health.

Gets Blood Donor Red card

After blood donation you get the red card. It’s like a MEDICAL CARD! When you go to government hospital, You just show this red card, then you are entitled to get free medical treatment. How good, you don’t even need to buy an expensive medical card.