[RowanGale RowanGale]

I was reading about blood donations on the NHS website and I saw A- was the universal platelet donation type.

Why is this? Does your blood type affect your platelets? Surely A+ platelets would be the same as A- because the rh factor only affects the red blood cells, right?

So why would A- be coming considered universal platelet donor and not A+?

How does blood type affect platelets?

[Michele Allsopp-Downie]

Platelets themselves carry ABO antigens but not Rh; however, donor platelet bags always contain some RBC. A Rh Positive donor Platelets would carry enough Rh Positive RBC to cause alloimmunization and anti-D production in an Rh Negative patient.

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