- The NHS has launched a pioneering initiative to identify and secure blood donations from individuals with rare blood types, aiming to provide "precision-matched" transfusions.
- As part of this UK-first drive, scientists have DNA-tested the blood of 77,000 donors to date, with the goal of identifying hundreds more rare donors.
- Blood collected from these rare donors will be frozen to create a vital reserve, which will also be available to the donors themselves if they require a transfusion.
- This large-scale DNA testing helps to mitigate the risk of severe transfusion reactions, particularly for patients who regularly receive blood, such as those with sickle cell disorder and thalassaemia.
- NHS Blood and Transplant highlights the critical importance of precise blood matching due to the 362 known blood types, calling this project a significant step towards wider precision-matched blood use.
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