I
was flipping through Facebook when I came across a discussion on one of the
work-related groups. I say “discussion”,
it was more of a contest to see who had had the most obscure blood group antibody
at the most inconvenient time. These aren’t uncommon… there is always someone
who can trump your “Bombay blood with a massive
GI bleed”, but a chap I knew mentioned a case of anti-Er(a).
Like
all blood group antigens it is one in a set of antigens of a blood group system….
But it isn’t a blood group system. It is a blood group collection.
This
was new to me… Collections are blood group antigens “which are biochemically, genetically or serologically similar where the
genetic basis has not yet been discovered”.
It
would seem that being a “system” is a
step up from being a “collection”. A trivial
distinction? Not really. Such nuances are rather important.
One
lives and learns….
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