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WAEC SSCE - Biology - 2018 (Objective)

Question 1 Report

Two unconscious patients X and Y whose blood group genotypes are AO and AB respectively were transfused with the blood from the same donor . Patient X immediately showed signs of difficulty in breathing while patient Y showed no negative reaction.


What should the hospital have done to prevent X from showing the symptom described above? Patient X should have

Answer Details
The hospital should have carried out an agglutination test on both patients X and Y before transfusing the blood from the donor. The agglutination test is a standard blood test that determines the compatibility between the donor's blood and the recipient's blood. The test checks for the presence of antigens and antibodies in the blood, which could trigger an adverse reaction in the recipient. In this case, patient X has blood group AO, which means they have A antigens on their red blood cells and anti-B antibodies in their plasma. Patient Y, on the other hand, has blood group AB, which means they have both A and B antigens on their red blood cells and no antibodies in their plasma. The blood transfusion from the donor may have contained B antigens, which would have triggered an immune response in patient X, causing difficulty in breathing. Therefore, the agglutination test would have prevented the transfusion of incompatible blood and avoided any adverse reactions.
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