Some Facts about Blood

• An adult body contains 10-12 pints of blood.
  
• It takes about 6-10 minutes to donate a pint of blood and approximately 72 hours for your body to replace the blood fluid volume. The red cells may take up to two months for full restoration.
  
• One unit of blood can be separated into components and used to treat up to three patients.
  
• Red blood cells last 42 days, platelets only five days and plasma up to one year.
  
• The most common blood type is O positive. The rarest blood is AB negative.
  
• An average healthy person will be eligible to give blood more than 330 times in his or her lifetime.
  
• Less than 5% of the general population donates blood and yet the majority of people will have at least one family member who will require at least one blood transfusion in their lifetime.
  
• Almost 38% of the population has O positive blood and only 7% have O negative blood.
  
• Patients with Type O blood must receive Type O blood.
  
• About half of all blood ordered by hospitals in our area is Type O.
  
• Type O negative blood is the universal blood type and is the only blood type that can be transfused to patients with other blood types.
  
• Type O negative blood is the preferred type for accident victims and babies needing exchange transfusions.
  
• There is always a need for Type O donors because their blood may be transfused to a person of any blood type in an emergency.

Medical Director approval 2/8/2005; http://www.aabb.org/