Sarawak State Library -

Blood Types

Call no.: : Gale Online Database
Author: : Julie Carnagie
Contributor: : John Anak Nyo-Em
Summary: A blood type is a certain class or group of blood that has particular properties. There are four major human blood types, which are inherited, and each of which has a characteristic protein on the surface of its red blood cells. Individuals who share the same type of proteins belong to the same blood group or type. It is essential to know a person's blood type before a blood transfusion can be given. Since the Middle Ages (A.D. 500–1450), doctors thought that if there were only some way to replace the blood a person lost due to injury, they could possibly save lives. Once precision instruments were developed in the seventeenth century that could be used to inject one person's blood into another, blood transfusions were attempted.