A 27-year-old male patient (blood group O) arrives at the emergency room with a massive intestinal bleed (hematochezia) Within hours he has lost half of his blood volume, and you decide to transfuse. Due to human error, you transfuse blood group AB into him and within minutes he develops a fever, chills, dyspnea, and a dramatic drop in blood pressure. This reaction is most likely due to which of the following?
High-Yield Explanation
All blood for transfusion should be carefully matched to avoid transfusion reaction. As shown in the tables below, persons with group O blood have no A or B antigens on their erythrocytes and are thus considered to be universal donors. In contrast, persons with group AB blood have neither A nor B antibody and thus are universal recipients.