Infected Dallas nurse...gets transfusion from Ebola survivor

[magical thyme]

She was a match for Brantly. This is his 3rd donation. He'd offered to Duncan, but they weren't a match. I also read somewhere this morning that so far her viral levels are low.

"By evening, she had received a transfusion of plasma from Kent Brantly, a Texas physician who survived the virus, according to her pastor and the nonprofit medical mission group Samaritan's Purse, Associated Press reported."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/13/ebola-nurse-who/17182599/

[morningfog]

1. Good to hear.

[drray23]

2. great news

Dr brantly is sure busy donating blood around. Good for him. We are lucky he is compatible with many patients. Probably group O.
Hopefully as more ebola patients recover they too can help others.

[magical thyme]

3. if he was O he could have donated to Duncan

but he is now quoted as having said in a recent speech that he offered but wasn't a match for Duncan.

I'm guessing their all A; second most common type.

[drray23]

4. yes you are right

He must be A. Anyhow its good that he is helping. The young nurse was monitoring herself and detected the low grade fever early enough that we can be hopeful this transfusion will help greatly.

[LisaL]

11. For plasma donation, rules are different.

AB blood type is considered an Universal Donor.

[LisaL]

7. But there is also a rhesus factor involved.

O negative is an universal donor.
He could be O positive.
And apparently even O negative blood is not always compatible.

"At one time, type O negative blood was considered the universal blood donor type. This implied that anyone — regardless of blood type — could receive type O negative blood without risking a transfusion reaction. However, we now know even type O negative blood may have antibodies that cause serious reactions during a transfusion."
http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/blood-transfusion/expert-answers/universal-blood-donor-type/faq-20058229

[magical thyme]

12. in an emergency with shortage, they don't worry about the Rh factor so much

What the Mayo link is referring to are the other antigen families on RBC surfaces. There are some 20 of them and people can have what are called "unexpected antibodies" to them. Some cause more problems than others. Rh is primarily a problem for women who are Rh-neg because after receiving Rh-pos blood, they develop antibodies to the Rh factor. Then if they have Rh-pos babies, those babies will react with their mother's antibodies.

Even matching exact type can cause reactions with the unexpected antibodies, so we cross-match looking for those reactions.

But in an emergency situation, if a small hospital runs out of O-neg they can use O-pos. It's the physician's call.

[LisaL]

13. It was a plasma donation.

The rules aren't the same for plasma donation.
It's not O blood type that is an universal donor, it's AB.
Only 4 % of population have AB blood type.

[magical thyme]

14. good point...I forgot they were looking for plasma, not RBCs

so O and AB universal reverse. So Brantly isn't AB, or he could have donated to Duncan and either he isn't O or he and everybody he's donated to are O.

[Stellar]

9. I hadn't heard that rumor...

I heard that the hospital had asked him but he never heard back from the hospital. I hope you are right.

[LisaL]

10. I believe hospital said Brantly was not a match for Duncan.

[magical thyme]

15. I read somewhere this morning that Brantly confirmed it in a speech. nt

[LisaL]

8. For plasma donation, AB donors are considered universal donors.

"People with type O-negative blood are the universal donor for whole blood. That means that anyone can receive this blood type. For platelet donation, it is a different blood type that earns the title of Universal Hero. AB donors are considered the universal plasma donor, which means that platelet and plasma products collected from people with this blood type can be received by almost anyone regardless of their blood type. Since only about 4 percent of the population has type AB blood, these donors’ platelets and plasma are in high demand."

http://www.redcrossblood.org/SED/Universal-Platelet-Donor

[City Lights]

6. This is good news.

Keeping my fingers crossed for her.