The Rh blood group currently includes over 50 antigens, of which the D antigen is the most important in clinical practice. This blood group is the second most important after the ABO system. An individual’s RhD status is described as positive or negative; positive indicates the presence of the RhD antigen while negative indicates its absence...
In 1939, Philip Levine and Rufus Stetson described the clinical importance of the Rh blood group system through a case of an immunized pregnant woman. The patient experienced an adverse reaction following transfusion of her husband’s blood after giving birth to a stillborn infant. Her serum agglutinated about 80% of ABO compatible human red blood cell samples.
Shortly after, Karl Landsteiner and Alexander Wiener described animal studies that discovered immune antibodies made in rabbits by injecting blood from the rhesus monkey reacted with about 85% of human red blood cells; the same red blood cells that reacted with the antibody made by the woman above. Believing these observations described the same blood group, Landsteiner and Wiener named the Rh blood group after the rhesus macaque. Scientists have since learned that the Rh blood group antigen described by Levine and Stetson is not the same as the one found in rhesus macaques, and was later named "LW" in honor of Landsteiner and Wiener.The History of the Rh Blood Group & How Genomics Is Changing RhD Typing | Lynsi Rahorst, MHPE, MT(ASCP)SBBCM | Tuesday, April 14, 2020
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The Rh blood group currently includes over 50 antigens, of which the D antigen is the most important in clinical practice. This blood group is the second most important after the ABO system. An individual’s RhD status is described as positive or negative; positive indicates the presence of the RhD antigen while negative indicates its absence...
In 1939, Philip Levine and Rufus Stetson described the clinical importance of the Rh blood group system through a case of an immunized pregnant woman. The patient experienced an adverse reaction following transfusion of her husband’s blood after giving birth to a stillborn infant. Her serum agglutinated about 80% of ABO compatible human red blood cell samples.
Shortly after, Karl Landsteiner and Alexander Wiener described animal studies that discovered immune antibodies made in rabbits by injecting blood from the rhesus monkey reacted with about 85% of human red blood cells; the same red blood cells that reacted with the antibody made by the woman above. Believing these observations described the same blood group, Landsteiner and Wiener named the Rh blood group after the rhesus macaque. Scientists have since learned that the Rh blood group antigen described by Levine and Stetson is not the same as the one found in rhesus macaques, and was later named "LW" in honor of Landsteiner and Wiener.The History of the Rh Blood Group & How Genomics Is Changing RhD Typing | Lynsi Rahorst, MHPE, MT(ASCP)SBBCM | Tuesday, April 14, 2020