Last week several hospitals in London were affected by a cyber attack. The attack caused several planned operations to be postponed and emergency services to be moved to other locations. According to the BBC, one of the consequences was that blood transfusions and blood tests stopped. The hospitals declared the incident critical. On Monday, the state-run British health service, the NHS, goes out and encourages blood donors across England with blood type O (zero) to give blood. Blood types Blood types are divided in various ways, but the ABO system is the most important. The ABO system categorizes which type of red blood cells you have. If you receive blood cells with the wrong type, it can trigger a reaction in the immune system. The Rhesus system, RhD, is also important. It tells whether you are positive or negative for the blood type antigen. People with blood type O are considered universal donors of red blood cells. People with O can give blood to anyone. Type A can only give to A and AB. Type B can give to A and AB, while AB can only be given to others with AB. In Norway, 49% have blood type A, 39% blood type O, 8% blood type B and 4% blood type AB. Source: Large medical encyclopedia According to the BBC, this is happening because the attack means that the affected hospitals in London are not able to check people’s blood type as quickly as they usually do. Universal donors – Patient safety is our first priority. When hospitals do not know the patient’s blood type, or cannot match the blood type, it is safe to use blood type O, says Dr Gail Miflin, head of NHS Blood and Transplant. Do you know your own blood type? Yes, A Yes, B Yes, AB Yes, O No, I have no idea No, but I’ll find out! Show result Blood type O is the only one that can be safely given to people with all blood types. But in the blood bank, the blood has a shelf life of 35 days, so there is a constant need for a supply of new blood. The attack is said to have been aimed at the laboratory chain and NHS collaboration partner Synnovis, and the BBC and The Guardian write that a Russian-speaking hacker group, Qilin, is believed to be behind it. NHS Blood and Transplant is now asking both O-positive and O-negative blood donors to book an appointment at blood banks in the country. Prioritizing the most precarious This to be able to carry out operations and other medical procedures requires blood. The image, taken on January 10 in another connection, shows the logo of the NHS, which stands for the British National Health Service, through a window at a health center in Bracknell. Photo: Adrian DENNIS / AFP / NTB – We know that several operating theaters have been postponed or moved to other nearby hospitals that are not affected by the cyber attack. We prioritize laboratory services for the most precarious cases, says medical director of NHS England, Professor Stephen Powis, to the BBC. According to him, the staff is going “farther than far” to reduce “the significant disruptions for patients” after the data attack. In Great Britain, only 8 per cent of the population has blood type O-negative, while this accounts for 15 per cent of the hospitals’ needs. O-positive has a whopping 35 per cent, and it can be given to anyone with a positive blood type. Thus, 76 percent of the British population can receive O-positive blood. Published 10.06.2024, at 15.04
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Blood donor hunt in Great Britain after cyber attack in London – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
