Rare blood donors are generally defined as being negative for a high prevalence antigen with a frequency of less than 1 in 1,000  or can be rare by being negative for multiple common antigens that are rarely found together in a donor.  Examples of rare blood types that are negative for antigens of high prevalence include Rhnull, Bombay (Oh),  Jr(a-) among others.  Siblings of donors or patients lacking antigens of high prevalence are more likely to also lack the antigen than the general donor population. Some rare blood types are so rare that there are less than 10 donors in the entire world population of registered rare donors. Therefore international co-operation, along with current and accurate rare donor databases are important.

The ISBT International Rare Donor Panel – is managed by the International Blood Group Reference Laboratory - NHS Blood and Transplant and maintains rare blood lists provided by the ISBT WP rare donor members in order to ensure that patients who require lifesaving rare blood units can receive them. 

 

What we do

 

Current Leadership

Vered Yahalom

Vered Yahalom

Rare Donors Working Party Chair, Blood Services and Apheresis Institute, Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel

Thierry Peyrard

Thierry Peyrard

Immunohaematology Working Party Chair, Rare Donors Vice Chair, Director, National Reference Department of Immunohematology and Rare Blood, French Blood Establishment (EFS), Paris, France

Inna Sareneva

Inna Sareneva

Rare Donors WP Secretary, Laboratory Specialist, Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Helsinki, Finland

Tanya Powley

Tanya Powley

Rare Donors Working Party Treasurer, National Red Cell Reference Manager, Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, Australia