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The golden blood type or Rh null blood group contains no Rh antigens (proteins) on the red blood cell (RBC). This is the rarest blood group in the world, with less than 50 individuals having this blood group. It was first seen in Aboriginal Australians. The worry with the golden blood group is that the donations of Rh null are incredibly scarce and difficult to obtain. An Rh null person has to rely on the cooperation of a small network of regular Rh null donors around the world if they need the blood. Throughout the world, there are only nine...

In 1951, a 14-year-old Australian boy named James Harrison awoke from a major chest operation...alive, thanks in large part to a vast quantity of transfused blood he had received, his father explained. *** After turning 18, Harrison (began) donating whole blood regularly with the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. Meanwhile, doctors in Australia were struggling to figure out why thousands of births in the country were resulting in miscarriages, stillbirths or brain defects for the babies. The babies, it turned out, were suffering from Haemolytic Disease of the Newborn, or HDN. The condition most often arises when a woman with...