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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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Speaker 1: Lauren Voga bomb here. This episode talks about blood donation.

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Speaker 1: So if that's the kind of thing that makes you woozy,

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Speaker 1: go on and skip it. Okay, Every two seconds in

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Speaker 1: the United States, someone somewhere needs a blood transfusion. And

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Speaker 1: let's face it, many of us don't consider giving blood

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Speaker 1: until there's a major disaster where donations are needed. But

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Speaker 1: just one donation has the potential to save up to

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Speaker 1: three lives on average. When you donate blood, you provide

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Speaker 1: about one pint. That's about half a leader of whole blood,

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Speaker 1: which is called a unit of blood, and for reference,

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Speaker 1: that's about sixteen ounces, or the size of a large coffee.

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Speaker 1: But in the U s alone, there is a need

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Speaker 1: for almost thirty six thousand units of blood every day,

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Speaker 1: so it's excellent for those who can donate to do so.

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Speaker 1: But have you ever wondered what actually happens after your

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Speaker 1: blood is drawn for a donation? Where does it go

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Speaker 1: and how is the process tracked for safety and security?

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Speaker 1: We'll break it down. Step one is collection. When you

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Speaker 1: donate blood, it's collected in a special bag and likely

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Speaker 1: a few test tubes that were developed with an antiquagulant

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Speaker 1: to prevent the blood from clotting. Each bag and test

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Speaker 1: tube is assigned the same unique I D number to

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Speaker 1: ensure that the collected blood can be properly tracked and

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Speaker 1: eventually labeled. Then the blood is placed on ice before

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Speaker 1: it's sent to the lab for testing. Next, the bags

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Speaker 1: and test tubes of blood are packaged in boxes specially

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Speaker 1: made to keep blood at the right temperature until it

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Speaker 1: can reach laboratories for step two processing, the test tube

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Speaker 1: samples are sent off to the lab for testing to

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Speaker 1: be sure the blood is safe and to determine the

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Speaker 1: blood type. In the US, the FDA regulates blood testing

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Speaker 1: collection and blood components through its Center for Biologics, Evaluation

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Speaker 1: and Research. While that blood is being tested, a blood

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Speaker 1: processing center verifies the receipt of the whole blood, sort

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Speaker 1: of like tracking a package from post office through delivery.

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Speaker 1: The blood's ideas checked in at every step of the way. Next,

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Speaker 1: the units of whole blood are separated into specific components.

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Speaker 1: This separation process, which is called component therapy, is accomplished

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Speaker 1: by spinning the blood in a centrifuge. The heavy red

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Speaker 1: cells fall to the bottom and the blood is divided

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Speaker 1: into transfusible components red cells, platelets, and plasma. The plasma

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Speaker 1: might even be processed further. For instance, plasma can be

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Speaker 1: separated into cryo precipitate called cryo for short, which helps

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Speaker 1: control the risk of bleeding by helping blood to clot.

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Speaker 1: The red blood cells, plasma, and platelets are then heat

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Speaker 1: sealed in bags to ensure they remain sterile, and the

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Speaker 1: components are stored while they wait for their test results.

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Speaker 1: Plasma and cryo contain proteins that are pretty stable, so

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Speaker 1: they can be frozen for up to a year at

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Speaker 1: negative twenty seven degrees fahrenheit that's negative thirty three celsius.

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Speaker 1: Red cells are more delicate and have to be refrigerated,

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Speaker 1: but can be kept for up to forty two days

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Speaker 1: as long as they're held at forty two degrees fahrenheit

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Speaker 1: that's six degrees celsius. Platelets must be used within five

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Speaker 1: days and are stored at room temper sure in agitators

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Speaker 1: that rock them back and forth until they are transfused

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Speaker 1: into a patient. Through all of this, the blood processing

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Speaker 1: center is still tracking the donation, including manufacturing data. What

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Speaker 1: centrifuge was used to separate the blood and what time

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Speaker 1: the work was performed. Once they get an okay on

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Speaker 1: the blood tests from the lab, the components are ready

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Speaker 1: to be deployed. They print labels with information including the

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Speaker 1: blood type and expiration dates, which they then affixed to

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Speaker 1: the bags. If the blood is deemed unsafe during the testing,

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Speaker 1: it's tagged with a discard label to complete the tracking cycle.

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Speaker 1: When a hospital or treatment center places in order for

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Speaker 1: blooder plasma, the components are shipped off in temperature safe boxes.

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Speaker 1: When they arrive, the medical staff double checks them for safety,

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Speaker 1: and finally they're ready to be transfused into the patient

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Speaker 1: who needs them. The entire donation to shipping process can

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Speaker 1: take up to three days, which doesn't seem like a

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Speaker 1: long time until there's a major disaster or blood shortage.

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Speaker 1: The American Red Cross says blood supply usually keep up

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Speaker 1: with demand because only about three percent of PEP eligible

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Speaker 1: to donate actually do. That's why it's such a boon

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Speaker 1: to donate if you can, especially if you're a universal

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Speaker 1: donor with type O negative blood. This can be transfused

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Speaker 1: into any patient with any blood type. The American Red

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Speaker 1: Cross estimates at about people in the us have Type

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Speaker 1: O blood, but the overwhelming majority of those people are

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Speaker 1: OH positive, which is lucky for them because it means

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Speaker 1: that donated components are more likely to match their common type,

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Speaker 1: but it also means that just seven percent of people

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Speaker 1: are Type O negative that universal donor. Today's episode was

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Speaker 1: written by Shelley Dancy and produced by Tyler Clang for

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Speaker 1: iHeart Media and How Stuff Works. For more on this

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Speaker 1: and lots of other topics, visit our home planet, how

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Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com