ELI5- What are blood groups? Why do they differ from person to person? Why can’t a person of one blood group receive blood from a person of a different blood group?

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In: Biology

20 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The blood groups that people think of are basically The ABO groups. A, AB, B, or O (which is neither A nor B). There are different systems in use however like MNS, Kell, or Lewis. Since I am most familiar with ABO, this is what you get:

Imagine you have 8 people with different types of juices…

Alfred has apple juice (A-)
Burt has cranberry juice (B-)
Abby has cran-apple (AB-)
Owen one has water (O-).

These people don’t like banana in their juice (Rh-) and really dislike the other juice flavors, but are ok with water. These people also do not like banana (Rh+) in their drinks because they think it’s overpowering.

The other four people have all the same juices with banana added. These people love banana in their drinks, but are ok if their juice doesn’t have banana.

Allen has apple with banana (A+)
Bobby has cranberry with banana (B+)
Abe has cran-apple with banana (AB+)
Oliver has water with banana (O+… also gross)

Allen, Bobby, Abe, and Oliver will all drink the juices without banana, but prefer their juices with it. They just think it’s a better flavor.

Alfred and Allen will both drink apple juice or water, but only Allen will drink it with banana.

Abby and Abe will drink any of the juices, but Abby won’t drink the banana juice.

Owen and Oliver will only drink water. Owen won’t have the banana water (who would?). Everyone will drink the water because it is the least objectionable juice.

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