Universal Recipient

Like universal donor, this term is not completely accurate. It refers to someone of the AB-positive blood type, who can generally receive red blood cells from any ABO type (A, B, AB, or O) and any Rh type (Rh-positive or -negative). These people comprise less than 4% of the population. However, the same caveat applies to this designation as to O negative “universal donors”: They are only universal recipients if they have no additional blood group antibodies.

NOTE: AB blood donors are very important, too, as their plasma can be given to essentially any recipient (since it lacks ABO blood group antibodies). So, AB-positive people could be considered both “universal recipients” and “universal plasma donors.”

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