So far, 360 rare blood types have been identified in the country besides the popular A, B and Rh. The project to identify rare blood types started 8 years ago, said Mostafa Moghaddam, head of the Immunohematology Reference Laboratory at the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO). “There are more than 600 known antigens besides A and B. A rare blood donor match occurs one in every 1,000, he said, Alef News Agency reported. The IBTO’s Immunohematology Reference Laboratory has developed a national database of 1,000 active rare donors to prevent shortages of rare donor blood units.
