# Is your blood missing Indian B? Zainab needs you! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 11, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-blood-missing-indian-b-zainab-needs-you/827606 "2019-01-11T18:19:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-blood-missing-indian-b-zainab-needs-you/827606/1 "2019-01-11T18:19:24Z")
A child [undergoing treatment](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/04/health/rare-blood-search-fourth/index.html) needs a very rare blood type. > [@](#): > > A person’s blood type is determined by antigens. Zainab’s blood is missing an antigen called Indian B, and her body will attack transfused blood that contains it. So, like Zainab, her donors need to be missing the antigen. In addition, they must have type O or A blood. > Such donors are “extremely rare,” said Sandra Nance, senior director of the American Rare Donor Program. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-blood-missing-indian-b-zainab-needs-you/827606/2 "2019-01-12T12:59:29Z")
How on earth is anyone expected to know if they’re an eligible donor? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-blood-missing-indian-b-zainab-needs-you/827606/3 "2019-01-12T13:45:28Z")
Only, Pakistani, Indian and Iranian origin… 1. That’s over a billion plus people 2. A region with massive immigration in and out for millennia, so how the hell can they be so sure that’s it’s those three countries only? What’s the problem with China, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, the Emirates… ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-blood-missing-indian-b-zainab-needs-you/827606/4 "2019-01-12T13:46:49Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > How on earth is anyone expected to know if they’re an eligible donor? I don’t even know what my blood type is. I’ve always been surprised that A)I could go this long without knowing it and B)They don’t test it for you [at least if it’s not already known] when you have standard blood work done. There’s time when I hear stories like this, or just general requests from blood banks for this or that blood type. I wouldn’t even know how to find out my blood type if I wanted to. I suppose I could go to a blood donation place and donate and wait for the report, but it always seemed like one of those things that people would or should know. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2019, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-your-blood-missing-indian-b-zainab-needs-you/827606/5 "2019-01-12T16:25:45Z")
If you donate blood, you don’t have to wait for a report, they do simple tests and tell you on the spot, that being something that they fundamentally need to know up front. They test only for ABO and Rh, though. (Don’t know what they test for later.)