The true bloody history behind a free cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit
I’m delighted to say that the lockdown isn’t stopping me from donating blood this week.
It’s something I really enjoy doing – I mean, they give me a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit every time, so what’s not to like?
However, when I’m donating, I often wonder who discovered that we could give blood – and who the brave first recipient might have been.
Over to you, Queries Man. – C. A blood transfusion is the process of transferring a donor’s blood into a recipient’s circulation intravenously.
The idea of transferring blood began in the 17th Century. At first, there were successful experiments in transfusion between animals.
However, attempts by doctors of the day to transfuse animal blood into humans often resulted in the death of the patient.
The first was by King Louis XIV of France’s physician, in 1667. He transfused the blood of a sheep into a 15-year-old boy, who survived, probably because only a small amount of blood was used.
Within 10 years, transfusing the blood of animals to humans was prohibited, because patients suffered allergic reactions.
The first human to human blood transfusion took place in 1818, however, the brave donor – and braver recipient – are unknown.
James Blundell performed the transfusion on a woman suffering a postpartum haemorrhage, the loss of blood after giving birth.
Using the patient’s husband as a donor, he extracts approximately four ounces of blood from the husband’s arm and, using a syringe, successfully transfused the patient.
By 1867, Joseph Lister discovered antiseptics to control infection during transfusions, and in 1900, Karl Landsteiner, an Austrian physician, discovered the first three human blood groups.
But even then it wasn’t all plain sailing. The Contaminated Blood Scandal in the 1970s and 80s saw almost 4,000 people, most of whom suffered from haemophilia, became infected with hepatitis C and HIV, as a result of receiving contaminated blood clotting factor products.
But blood donations really took off when donors discovered they were given tea and biscuits.