AB positive blood type
Your blood type is determined by genes inherited from your parents.
Whether your blood type is rare, common or somewhere in between, your donations are vital in helping save and improve lives.
How rare is AB positive blood?
1 in 50 donors is AB positive
Just 2% of donors have AB positive blood making it one of the rarest blood types in the country.
Who can receive AB positive blood?
Only AB positive people
AB positive red blood cells can only be used to treat people with AB positive blood.
What blood can AB positive people receive?
All blood types are safe
People with AB positive blood can safely receive red blood cells from any blood type. This means that demand for AB positive red blood cells is at its lowest level in a decade.
It's rare and important for plasma medicines
Plasma can be taken from AB positive blood donations and used to treat patients who have lost a lot of blood or made into medicines that treat over 50 diseases.
We generally meet the demand for AB positive blood from our male donors.
This is because female donors (especially those who have been pregnant) can have antibodies that, while no danger to themselves, can be life threatening to patients transfused with their plasma.
If demand for AB positive blood rises, we contact our AB positive female donors directly to ask if they can book to donate blood.
If you are female and live in Birmingham, Reading or Twickenham, you may be able to donate just plasma used to make medicines.