12yo relies on blood donors to keep her alive, but there's a big shortage
www.abc.net.au
More than 12,000 blood donors are needed over the next seven days as the nation faces ongoing shortages of type O and A blood supplies.

In short:

More than 12,000 blood donors are needed amid dropping supplies of type O and A blood supplies.

Winter illnesses are being blamed for donors cancelling appointments.

Victoria has the highest demands, with 4,500 donors needed followed by NSW which needs 3,100.

  • joelfromaus@aussie.zoneEnglish
    4·
    8 天前

    I attempted my first donation a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I have IBS and it turns out diarrhoea within the prior week, for any reason, is a no-go.

    I’m re-booked for September because they only visit the area every 6 weeks and I have a dietary plan to try again without the issue.

    The way i see it; I should try to do some good and donating blood is a good way to do that.

      • zero_gravitas@aussie.zoneOPEnglish
        1·
        8 天前

        Strange that AB- is good.

        I’d guess that’s related to the fact that AB- blood can only go to patients with an AB+/- blood type (and AB+ only to AB+ recipients). Also, AB+ is 4% of the population and AB- is 1%. So probably for those reasons there’s a lower demand for whole blood of the AB+/- types.

        By that logic, though, you’d expect AB- would be in shorter supply than AB+. So I don’t know!

        I also have no idea why supply of B+ is ‘Good’ either, since it’s compatible with the same number of recipient types as A+, and you’d think percentage of the population for any type would balance supply with demand (that might be an incorrect assumption, though).

        This is a good reference for percentage of each blood type in the Australian population, and donor-recipient compatibilities: https://www.lifeblood.com.au/donors/blood-plasma-platelets/learn/blood/blood-types