Janus the d'Uccle .... Possible Chimera - male and female???

[Fishkeeper]

Definitely keep us updated on whether s/he shows behavior from one sex, both, or neither.

 

[fur-mum]

If you have type O blood, your immune system will think that the A markers or B markers on other blood types are infections, and will attack them. That's why people have to have blood of the same type as theirs in transfusions, or can be given O blood, which lacks any of those markers.

Blood types don't really factor in during pregnancy, but RH positive or negative does, and can cause serious problems for all involved. It can kill the fetus, and if I remember right, can seriously harm or kill the mother.

If the mom is an O her body can in some cases attack the baby if the baby is an A or B. It's extremely mild and usually requires no more intervention than bili lights. However, there are over 300 different markers (called antigens) on the human RBC and about 27 that we routinely test for. Many can cause significant problems if a mother develops an antibody or if you are transfused with incompatible blood, and others are just a nuisance. That is why blood banks are so important. We make sure that the blood that is given is compatible and won't cause more harm than good.

Also, in case you were wondering, there are dozens of different Rh (called D) variants but again, many are so rare that even those of us in the field never actually see one in real life.

 

[fur-mum]

Oh how interesting! I'm kind of similar-- I have a thyroid condition and get regular blood tests done, and switch back and forth between A+ and AB+. Maybe I'm a cis-AB?

An AB patient can receive A blood without any problems at all. It's fairly common practice if AB blood is unavailable due to short supply (it's the rarest of the major blood types) to give A blood before giving O.

 

[fur-mum]

Sorry. Not trying to but in. I find this stuff fascinating and enjoy sharing.

I'm totally looking forward to see how Janus turns out!

 

[Fishkeeper]

An AB patient can receive A blood without any problems at all. It's fairly common practice if AB blood is unavailable due to short supply (it's the rarest of the major blood types) to give A blood before giving O.

Right, since A blood only has the A markers, and blood used to A and B markers doesn't object to A markers.

Switching between A and AB blood types isn't a normal thing, though. Normally your bone marrow produces blood with the A markers, the B markers, both markers, or neither, and all of it is the same. If you have two different 'batches' of marrow, so to speak, one producing A and one producing AB, that would explain it, and would mean that the marrow is genetically distinct. If you have two different genetic codes in your body, you're a chimera. The only way to test for that would be to DNA test all your bone marrow, but I don't know of anything else that would cause you to alternately produce A and AB blood.
Hopefully your immune system thinks you're supposed to have AB blood. If it was only tuned to accept A blood markers, it would attack the B markers and cause you some serious issues.

(is this clear? Am tired today, but this is a really interesting thing.)

 

[fur-mum]

Right, since A blood only has the A markers, and blood used to A and B markers doesn't object to A markers.

Switching between A and AB blood types isn't a normal thing, though. Normally your bone marrow produces blood with the A markers, the B markers, both markers, or neither, and all of it is the same. If you have two different 'batches' of marrow, so to speak, one producing A and one producing AB, that would explain it, and would mean that the marrow is genetically distinct. If you have two different genetic codes in your body, you're a chimera. The only way to test for that would be to DNA test all your bone marrow, but I don't know of anything else that would cause you to alternately produce A and AB blood.
Hopefully your immune system thinks you're supposed to have AB blood. If it was only tuned to accept A blood markers, it would attack the B markers and cause you some serious issues.

(is this clear? Am tired today, but this is a really interesting thing.)

You are correct, someone wouldn't switch between A and AB, but I was thinking that maybe she got AB blood sometimes and A others, not that she necessarily typed that way. There's another option that I just thought of. It's called acquired B. It happens with different intestinal issues, infections usually, because the bacterial antigens mimic the B on the RBCs. It usually clears up once the infection is gone. In that case, unless the hospital could identify it as that, they would give O blood.
As for the body attacking its own B antigens, I've not seen that specifically, but there are many cases of other autoantibodies, in which case it's an autoimmune condition. Usually though the body doesn't clear those cells much faster than normal so there's not severe kidney damage.

 

[Ayuki]

Would an autoimmune condition cause acquired B? If so, that would make sense. The first three years after my diagnosis there was a lot of back and forth between A and AB--but then there was a 4 year period (which included pregnancy) of being AB. Can acquired B last that long?

 

[fur-mum]

Not that I'm aware of. It's typically colon related, infection or cancer. But as my boss likes to tell me, "they don't read the book". So I guess anything's possible. It's just not documented like the colon involvement. Pregnancy is known to affect other antigens on the cells, but it's usually not the major ones of A and B.

 

[fur-mum]

Autoimmune conditions can definitely do some strange things though. So that could play a part.

 

[fur-mum]

I believe that's correct about the blood types, I think only RH negative will attack RH positive. My mom had to get an injection when she was pregnant with me.

I've only ever been typed years apart. I was typed twice as a kid/teenager and was O positive. When I became an adult I was typed A positive a few times. I've never received a transfusion. So I don't know if it actually depends on the day or if it takes years or what. I'm not willing to be stabbed with a needle enough to find out

This sounds like you may be a weak subtype of A. There are several, and yes, depending on the day and the reagents used by the lab, can cause discrepancies.

On the RH, a pregnant mom can develop antibodies that will attack the baby's Rh pos, if she was pregnant with an Rh pos before and wasn't given Rhogam (the shot your mom would've gotten). But there are many others that act the same way, the Rh is just the most serious and deadly when a baby is involved. And thankfully it can be prevented by the rhogam.