Your blood type is inherited. Like eye color, blood type is passed genetically from your parents. Your blood group, whether it is type A, B, AB or O is based on the blood types of your mother and father. The B Positive Blood Type is comparatively rare. In the UK, 1 in 13 of blood donors has the B Positive Blood Type. As a percentage of the population, 8% in the UK will have this blood type. If you are a blood donor with this type of blood, your blood can be received by people with B positive and AB positive blood.
Having B positive blood means that your red blood cells have B antigens and your plasma has anti-A antibodies. This makes it important to ensure that if you ever need a blood transfusion, you receive blood that is compatible with your blood type.
While being B positive may seem like a disadvantage due to its rarity, it also has some advantages. Studies have shown that people with this blood type are less susceptible to certain infections, such as cholera and E.coli. However, they may be more prone to developing autoimmune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis.
Knowing Your Blood Type
There are lots of ways to find out your blood type. The importance of knowing your blood type is to stop the risk of receiving an incompatible blood type if a transfusion is needed. If the wrong blood types are mixed, it can cause a clumping of blood cells that can be potentially fatal.
If you do not know your blood group, you can contact your local doctor’s surgery or blood donation group to make an appointment and try to find out. (Note: Your doctor may not be willing to give you a blood test when there is no medical need to do carry one out.)
The easiest way to find out your blood group is by taking a test at home. We suggest the eldon blood typing kit for this purpose. As well as being an inexpensive kit, this product also produces results within minutes. Also, you can test at home as soon as the packet from Zoom Health pops through your letterbox, no waiting for days or weeks for a surgery appointment!
Photo by Hush Naidoo on Unsplash
Zoom Health is a leading UK supplier of Home Health Tests and Earplugs
This post was originally published in November 2017 and has been regularly updated since.
