1667: First Human Blood Transfusion

Once in a while, an interesting scientific snippet crosses my path and I'll share it with you to increase the number of somewhat weird facts that you may already know (and maybe use it to impress others!).

Did you know that June 15th 1667 was the first time ever that a blood transfusion was given to a human being? (Medical and scientific knowledge of blood was rather primitive back then, people even thought you could stay alive by drinking the blood of others..)

According to this article, the patient was a 15 year-old boy who had been bled so much by the doctor (probably during a procedure) that he required a blood transfusion. The doctor* used sheep's blood and amazingly, the boy managed to recover. Other patients weren't as successful though and the practice was banned. Doctors had no idea back then that interspecies transfusion isn't tolerated by the immune system and that humans have different and sometimes incompatible blood types (humans have 4 types, you inherit your blood types from your parents).



The major blood type groupings were elucidated in 1907, only when a critical piece of the jigsaw puzzle was identified by Viennese physician Karl Landsteiner discovered the presence of agglutinins and iso-agglutinins in the blood. He went on the win a Nobel Prize for his work.


*It seems that the doctor who performed this daring procedure is disputed as either Jean-Baptiste Denys, personal physician to France's King Louis XIV, or Englishman Sir William Lower. While Jean Baptiste is accredited for the transfusion in humans, Sir William Lower was the first to demonstrate blood transfusion from one dog to another in 1665.

You can read about other amusing ancient stories on blood here.


How does this all relate to stem cells?

Well, not much correlation really, except that when we process cord blood and adult peripheral blood, reducing the number of red blood cells is part of the procedure. This is to ensure a smaller volume for infusion and also that the unit can be safely given to a patient with matching stem cell type but a different blood group from the donor.