Here are 13 Interesting Facts About Human Blood.
Blood banks gave thousands of people AIDS in the 1980s, even after the CDC confirmed that the virus was blood borne, because it was not cost effective to screen the blood.
Wheelchair athletes with spinal injuries will sometimes intentionally injure themselves on the lower body (e.g. break a toe), causing their bodies to respond by raising blood pressure and enhancing their performance. This practice has been banned as cheating.
Pus is just white blood cells that died fighting off infection.
In the late 90s, Saddam Hussein commissioned a Quran to be written in his own blood. Now, Muslim leaders aren’t sure what to do with it–To write the Quran in blood was a sin, but to destroy it would also be a sin.
Because blood only has a shelf life of approximately 42 days, after 9/11 and the flood of blood donations, the Red Cross had to throw out all of the surplus blood, and experienced a shortage.
In Japan, blood type is believed to be an indicator as to one’s personality, creating a market for blood type themed goods (condoms, drinks, books). The belief is so prevalent that the Japanese version of Facebook has a “Blood Type” drop down option for profiles.
Paper cuts hurt so badly because paper does more microscopic damage to the skin, and there often isn’t blood to protect nerves afterwards.
George Washington was bled to death by doctors, who were treating him for a cold. Bloodletting was a common medical practice in those times in order to remove “dirty blood,” when in reality it only weakens the patient. Half or more of his blood was removed within a few hours.
After needing 13 liters of blood for a surgery at the age of 13, a man named James Harrison pledged to donate blood once he turned 18. It was discovered that his blood contained a rare antigen, which cured Rhesus disease. He has donated blood a record 1,000 times and saved 2,000,000 lives.
It was a tradition in Ireland that if you donated a pint of blood, they’d give you a pint of Guinness to replace the iron.
Ancient Egyptian kings would avoid drinking wine because of its resemblance to blood, believing that it was the blood of those who battled the gods and lost – which is why drinking it temporarily drove people out of their senses and made them a little crazy.
There is about 0.2 milligrams of gold in our bodies, most of which is in our blood.
1.3 million pints of donated blood spoil every year since blood only has a 40-day shelf life.
