Blood Groups and Genotype

Dear Doctor, Please my fiancee has SC as her genotype and O as her blood group but mine is AA as genotype and B as blood group. I would like to know the side effect of this combination and everything that I need to know about the genotype. Thanks. FNC, Oron Dear FNC, We are considering two different systems of characterizing humans by their blood. You see before 1900, whenever doctors tried to transfuse dying, wounded soldiers with blood donated by others, they discovered that the transfusions, rather than save the poor hapless soldiers, actually accelerated their downhill slide into death. They never understood this until a certain Dr Carl Landsteiner made his landmark discoveries that humans belonged to 4 differing blood groups which he named group A, B,AB and O and that blood from these differing groups if mixed together will mutually destroy each other but if you first found out the blood group and then gave the patient blood from that same group, there would be no destruction and the recipients would generally survive and not die. This is the origin and reason behind finding out blood groups and cross matching blood to be donated with the recipient's blood before transfusing them. Blood group O( about 42% of humans) can donate to any of the other groups but can receive only blood group O. The other blood groups must take blood only from members of their group-- after first cross matching it. So blood groups have practical application in blood transfusion--as in when a pregnant woman needs blood after severe blood loss at delivery; for operations; for bleeding gun-shot soldiers etc, etc. Blood genotype is another kettle of fish. Its practical application is in inheritance or non inheritance of the sickle cell disease, sufferers of which disease have the blood genotype SS. You see, blood consists of cells --red blood cells and the liquid part called serum. The red blood cells carry inside them a certain dye that helps to catch and transport oxygen from the lungs into the cells of the body for use in the body as fuel to power the human body machine or engine. This dye is called hemoglobin. Hemoglobin can be of 4/5 types mainly. Type A, B-Thalassemia, S, C, F. F is Fetal hemoglobin--only newborn babies carry this type of hemoglobin; okay? Normal adult hemoglobin is A. S is sick hemoglobin, sicker than C. Now among blacks these sick hemoglobin’s are more rampant than among whites. The Mediterranean peoples have B-Thalassemia as their own sick hemoglobin. Note, most people have the normal hemoglobin -- only a few have the sick thing. And every human being has 2 half parts making up his/he total hemoglobin picture. Each half is given by one of the parents of that person. When each person is to be born, their parents (unknowingly) through their sex cells or gametes-- that is egg cell or sperm cells submit; each, a type of hemoglobin for the child to be born. Suppose one of your parents gave you A and the other A. You would be AA. That's what happened in your case. Now your wife to be, one parent gave her C; the other S. So she is SC. When you have kids they will be either AS, or AC or AS or AC. SS is the problem-- it is a very deadly disease and makes the sufferer a misery, not only to themselves but to their parents and relatives who would have to care for them all the times they fall seriously sick. They generally die early; too. SB--Thalassemia (S-BThal) is also problematic. AS causes no problem; AC too; SC only causes some minor problems when a patient is pregnant. For you and your fiance like I said above, your getting married and having babies is not at all hazardous. Cheers