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Less than 50 people worldwide have the blood group Rh-Zero – so-called golden blood. But what makes the blood group so rare?
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Golden blood, of course, isn’t really golden. It is so named because it is extremely rare. The rare blood group is officially called “Rh-Zero”. In order to understand what is special about golden blood, we first explain the characteristics of the individual blood groups.
How do the individual blood groups differ?
The surface of red blood cells consists, among other things, of carbohydrates and proteins that form different structures – the so-called blood group antigens. Everyone has a certain type of these antigens in various combinations. This gives the blood group.
There are 38 blood group systems worldwide – that is, models of how blood groups are named and sorted. The best known and most important in medicine are the AB0 system and the rhesus system.
The AB0 system
There are four blood groups in the AB0 system:
The system is relatively easy to understand because the letters indicate whether the respective antigen is present on the surface of the red blood cells. So if you have blood group A, you have A antigens, while people with blood group AB have both A and B antigens. With blood group 0, however, none of these antigens are present.
Which blood group you have plays a major role in blood donations. Because the body not only has the antigens, but also the antibodies. This means that defense mechanisms are used against antigens that the body does not know. Anyone who has A antigens cannot receive B antigens – a person with blood group B cannot donate blood for a person with blood group A and vice versa. Blood group 0 forms antibodies against A and B. An incorrect blood transfusion would lead to the blood clumping and, in the worst case, the person to die.
The rhesus system
In addition to blood group A, B, AB or 0, the so-called Rhesus factor is usually also given.
There are 55 different antigens in the rhesus blood group system, for example D, C, c, E or e. The Rhesus factor D is particularly important because it occurs in around 85 percent of all people. If you have this factor, you are considered Rh-positive or Rh-positive. If the Rhesus factor D is missing, one is Rh negative.
Golden Blood – The rarest blood type of all
If a person lacks all 55 antigens of the Rh system on the red blood cells, one officially speaks of Rh-zero. This is extremely rare – currently only 43 people worldwide are known to have this so-called golden blood.
In theory, golden blood carriers would be the perfect blood donors if the AB0 group is correct. The other way around, however, looks problematic, because if you have golden blood, you can only receive golden blood in the event of a blood transfusion. 9 of the 43 people actively donate blood, not necessarily for other people, but for themselves. The blood is frozen and stored for medical emergencies.
Since golden blood is so rare, it hardly plays a role in everyday medical practice, despite its interesting properties.
Also read: Lost vaccination certificate – what to do?
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