"Free blood donation that you may not know" | Can blood be donated to each other between immediate family members? Absolutely not!

I believe everyone has seen such a plot in movies and TV shows: someone is injured and bleeding heavily and is in danger of life and urgently needs a blood transfusion, and the family members will take the initiative to roll up their sleeves and expose their arms to donate blood. The patient is immediately out of danger after receiving the blood donated by his relatives. But in real life, this situation is absolutely impossible to happen.

First of all, to donate blood, you must go to the blood donation hall of the blood station or blood center, or the street blood collection vehicle or the love blood donation house. Here, you must go through a series of health consultations and physical examinations before the physical examination doctor can determine whether you are suitable for blood donation, and then the blood collection nurse will collect blood. After successful blood donation, the blood is transported back to the blood center by a special transfer vehicle, and the test samples are sent to the laboratory for enzyme immunoassay and biochemical testing. The enzyme immunoassay requires two reagents and two shifts to operate simultaneously. After the test results are consistent and qualified, it enters the nucleic acid test link. Only when the nucleic acid test is qualified can the laboratory director issue a qualified report, and the blood can be released and enter the blood supply department, and then distributed to various hospitals. The entire testing process will be completed within 72 hours. Therefore, the blood center must have sufficient inventory to meet the blood needs of emergency patients. This is also the reason why enough people need to donate blood every day to ensure clinical blood use.

Blood transfusions between immediate family members may lead to serious complications: transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GVHD). The incidence of the disease is reported to be only 0.01% to 0.1%, but the prognosis is extremely poor. Even after treatment, the mortality rate is still over 90%. Most patients die due to uncontrollable infections and bleeding caused by hematopoietic failure.

Therefore, the blood used for blood transfusion in clinical practice comes from unpaid blood donors whom you do not know.

I don't know you, but I thank you!

(Dong Wen'an, Director of Henan Red Cross Blood Center)