| Q: |
What
is blood? How much blood does a person have? |
| A: |
Blood
is the red coloured fluid flowing continuously in our body's circulatory
system. About 1/12th of the body weight of a healthy individual is blood.
On an average there are about 5 6 litres of blood present.
|
| Q: |
What
is the composition of blood? |
| A: |
Blood
contains mainly a fluid called plasma in which are suspended cellular elements.
Three types of cells Red Blood Cells or RBC's, White Blood Cells or WBC's
and tiny platelets form the cellular element.
|
| Q: |
What
are the functions of these components? |
| A: |
(a)
Plasma: acts as a vehicle to carry many substances like glucose, fats,
and proteins, enzymes, and hormones etc., in addition to the blood cells.
(b) Red Cells: carry oxygen from lungs
to various body tissues and take back carbon dioxide from the cells and
tissues to be thrown out of body in the form of exhaled air.
(c) White cells: mainly act as
body scavengers and guards. They help in the immune system of the body
and act as defence forces of the body killing the bacteria or any other
organisms entering the body.
(d) Platelets: help in the clotting
and coagulation of blood. We have experienced in our life that whenever
we get injured the bleeding stops after a few minutes. This is brought
about by a mechanism called clotting of blood in which platelets plays
a very vital role.
|
| Q: |
How
is blood formed? |
| A: |
Blood
consists of RBCs, WBCs, platelets suspended in plasma. In early embryonic
life blood cells are formed in liver and spleen. But by the fifth month
the Haemopoisis (i.e., formation of blood.) occurs in bone marrow and lymphatic
tissues. At birth the entire bone marrow is red and active. Gradually as
the child grows, the marrow remains red only in the flat bones and vertebrae.
The RBC, grannulocytes of WBC and platelets are produced mainly by bone
marrow. The lymphocytes, monocytes, plasma cells are formed in the lymphoid
and Reticulo Endothelial tissues. The orderly proliferation of the cells
in the bone marrow and their release into circulation is carefully regulated
according to the needs of body. Every day, new blood cells are being produced
in the bone marrow and every day old cells are dying and being removed
from the body.
Red blood cells have a life of 120
days and when it becomes old and senile it is thrown out. White cells live
for a few days and platelets for a few hours. Thus daily new cells are
added to the circulation and old are removed from it.
|
| Q: |
What
is haemoglobin? |
| A: |
Haemoglobin
is a substance present in the red cells. It is helpful in carrying oxygen
and carbon dioxide. On an average, in a healthy male it should be between
14 16 gm % and in a female it should be about 12 14 gm %. This is also
being daily synthesized and the new is replacing the old stock.
|
| Q: |
What
are blood groups? |
| A: |
Every
individual has two types of blood groups. The first is called the ABO
grouping and the second type is called Rh grouping.
In the ABO group there are four categories
namely A Group, B Group, O Group and AB Group.
In the Rh Group either the individual
is Rhpositive, or Rhnegative. Rh is a factor called as Rhesus factor
that has come to us from Rhesus monkeys.
Thus each and very human being will
fall in one of the following groups.
A positive or A negative
B positive or B negative
O positive or O negative
AB positive or AB negative
There are also some sub groups as
well as a few other classifications.
|
| Q: |
What
is the importance of knowing the blood groups? |
| A: |
For
all practical and routine purposes, it is ideal to transfuse to the patient
the same group of blood which he belongs to. It is only under very dire
emergency that we take O group as universal donor and AB groups as universal
recipient. 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.
|
| Q: |
Why
is A group not given B group blood? |
| A: |
This
is due to the reason that, the blood of A Group people contains anti
B antibodies. In B group people there are anti An antibodies. If we give
A group blood to a B group patient, it is bound to be incompatible and
will result in serious consequences.
|
| Q: |
Why
are Rh negative and Rh positive incompatible? |
| A: |
A
patient with Rhnegative blood cannot be given Rhpositive blood as the
antigenantibody REACTIONS WILL RESULT IN SEVERE consequences.
In cases where a woman has Rh
negative and her husband has Rh positive, the first child with Rh positive
may be normal. But subsequently the woman may not conceive or may have
repeated abortions. There may be intra uterine fetal death. If the child
born is alive, it will suffer from a fatal disease called "Erythroblastosis
Foetalis". Now mothers can be given an injection of antiD within 24 hours
of the delivery of a Rhpositive child and thus protect the next baby from
this catastrophe.
|
| Q: |
What is a unit of
blood? |
| A: |
Blood is collected in plastic bags
which contain a watery fluid which prevents blood from getting coagulated.
On an average we draw about 450 ml. of blood from a person, depending on the weight of the donor.
This blood, plus the amount of anti coagulant present in the bottle or bag, is known
as one unit of blood.
|
| Q: |
Can blood of animals
be transfused to human beings? |
| A: |
Scientists have tried a lot but so
far they are not successful. Only the blood of a human being can be transfused
to a human patient.
|
| Q: |
How long can blood
be stored? |
| A: |
Whole blood can be stored up to 35
days, when kept in CPDA anti coagulant solution and refrigerated at 2
4 deg C. But the demand is so great that blood hardly ever remains in storage
for so long and is used much before expiry.
|
| Q: |
Can we separate blood
into its components? |
| A: |
Yes! 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. Similarly
there are other components like Platelet Rich Plasma; Platelet Concentrate
(can be stored as a life saving measure upto 5 days now at 22 24 degrees
C in a platelet incubator and agitator); Cryoprecipitate (which is very
useful in treating bleeding disorders due to the deficiency of factor VIII
and IX); Factor VIII and IX; Albumin, Globulin and many others.
In most progressive blood banks more
than 85 % of the blood collected is converted into components and stored.
This is because many patients do not require whole blood. For example,
a patient whose hemoglobin is low and is therefore anemic, may just require
Packed Cells i.e. only red cells; a patient with burns may need more of
plasma than cells; a patient with hemophilia may require only Factor VIII.
Now with the advent of Cellseparators
we can directly draw a particular component from the donor, while
rest of the blood constituents go back to the donor.
|
|
Transfusion |
| Q: |
In
which situations do patients need blood transfusion? |
| A: |
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 as there is bound to be blood loss.
- On an average, for every open heart surgery
about 6 units of blood is required.
- In miscarriage or childbirth, cases the
patient may need large amount of blood to be transfused for saving her
life and also the child's.
- For patients with blood diseases like
severe Anaemias especially Aplastic Anaemias, Leucaemias (blood cancer),
Haemophilia (bleeding disorder), 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.
|
| Q: |
Do you test all the
collected blood? |
| A: |
Yes. ALL the blood in our blood bank
is tested for AIDS, VDRL, jaundice (HBsAg, HCV), malaria etc. using the
latest technology.
|
| Q: |
What happens to patients
in transfusions with incompatible blood (mismatched blood)? |
| A: |
The following symptoms may occur after
only a few ml. of blood have been given:
1. Patient complains of shivering,
restlessness, nausea, and vomiting. There is precardial and lumbar pain.
2. Cold, clammy skin with cyanosis.
3. Pulse rate increases, respiratory
rate increases. Temperature increases to 38 to 40 deg C. [101 to 105 F].
4. Blood pressure falls and patient
passes into a state of shock.
5. Haemoglobinaemia, haemoglobinurea
(urine turns red); oliguria (urine becomes scanty or the urinary output
is reduced) and anuria (total output of urine becomes 200 ml. a day)
6. Jaundice appears after a few hours
and in some cases anuria persists and uremia develops. This may lead to
death.
|
|
Donating
Blood |
| Q: |
In which situations
do people generally donate blood? |
| A: |
There
are three types of blood donors:
(1) PROFESSIONAL DONORS They sell
their blood, which is of very poor quality and can transmit very dangerous
diseases to the recipient. It is illegal to take blood from any professional
donor.
(2) REPLACEMENT DONATION Healthy
relatives and friends of the patient give their blood, of any group, to
the blood bank. In exchange, the required number of units in the required
blood group is given.
(3) VOLUNTARY DONATION Here a donor
donates blood voluntarily. The blood can be used for any patient even without
divulging the identity of the donor. This is the best type of blood
donation where a motivated human being gives blood in an act of selfless
service.
|
| Q: |
Who
is a healthy donor? |
| A: |
Any person within the age group of
18 60 years with a body weight as minimum 45 kgs, and having hemoglobin
content as minimum 12.5 gm%.
|
| Q: |
Does a donor need to do anything special
before donation? |
| A: |
The donor should eat at regular mealtimes and drink plenty
of fluids.
|
| Q: |
How long does the donation take? |
| A: |
The procedure is done by skilled, specially trained technicians
and takes three to eight minutes. However, from start to finish (filling
form, post donation rest etc) the entire process should take upwards
of 35 minutes.
|
| Q: |
Does the needle hurt the entire time? |
| A: |
There may be a little sting when the needle is inserted,
but there should be no pain during the donation.
|
| Q: |
Does the donor suffer
from any harmful effects after donating blood donation? |
| A: |
Absolutely not, rather a donor after
having given blood voluntarily gets a feeling of great pleasure, peace
and bliss. Soon, within a period of 24 48 hours, the same amount of new
blood gets formed in the body, which helps the donor in many ways. His
own body resistance improves, the circulation improves, and he himself
feels healthier than before.
|
| Q: |
Does
a donor need to rest after donating blood? |
| A: |
Yes.
The donor needs rest, preferably lying down, so that the amount of blood
that has been donated soon gets poured into the circulation from the body
pools in a natural way. The donor should take it easy for about 15 20
minutes.
|
| Q: |
Can
a donor work after donating blood? |
| A: |
Of
course! Routine work is absolutely fine after the initial rest. Rigorous
physical work should be avoided for a few hours.
|
| Q: |
What
special diet should a donor follow after giving blood? |
| A: |
After
resting for a while a donor is given some liquid (fluid) to take. It may
be a cup of coffee or milk or fruit juice alongwith a few biscuits
or fruit. The donor needs no other special diet. A routine balanced diet
is adequate. The donor's blood gets replenished within 24 48 hours.
|
| Q: |
How
long will it take for the body to replenish the blood? |
| A: |
The body replaces blood
volume or plasma within 24 hours. Red cells need about four to eight weeks
for complete replacement.
|
| Q: |
How
frequently a donor can donate blood? |
| A: |
Three
months time between donations is a very safe interval.
|
| Q: |
Do
any diseases debar a donor from giving blood? |
| A: |
Yes,
if the donor has suffered from any of the undermentioned diseases:
Fever: He should not have suffered
from fever for the past 15 days.
Jaundice: A donor should not have his
blood tested positive for AUSTRALIA ANTIGEN.
Blood transmitted diseases: Like Syphilis,
Malaria, Filaria etc. debar a donor from donating blood till he is treated
and is free from them.
Drugs: If a donor is taking drugs like
Aspirin, antihypertensive, antidiabetics, hormones, corticosteroids etc.,
he is unfit to donate blood.
AIDS. No person having HIV positive
can be allowed to donate blood.
|
| Q: |
Are
there any other benefits of blood donation? |
| A: |
Yes,
blood donation is a noble, selfless service! It gives the donor a feeling
of joy and contentment. Also this is an expression of love for Mankind,
as blood knows no caste, colour, creed, religion or race, country, continent
or sex.
|
| |
|
About Blood Donate 
Blood Facts 