The ABO blood group and Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Awash, Metehara and Ziway areas, Ethiopia

Malaria Journal

Research

Beyene Petros¹  Zinaye Tekeste² 

[1] Department of Biology, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;Department of Biology, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Gondar University, Gondar, Ethiopia;

关键词: Malaria;    Blood Group;    Falciparum Malaria;    Severe Malaria;    Cerebral Malaria;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1475-2875-9-280

 received in 2010-07-17, accepted in 2010-10-12,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe virulence of Plasmodium falciparum is associated with the capacity of the infected red blood cell (iRBC) to adhere to uninfected RBCs, a process known as rosetting, which has been linked to the occurrence of severe malaria. The present study was carried out in three Ethiopian malaria endemic localities to investigate the relationship between blood group type and severe disease in falciparum malaria.MethodsA total of 210 cases of malaria (70 severe and 140 uncomplicated) and 190 healthy controls participated in the study. Patients with at least one of the severe malaria syndromes (cerebral malaria, severe anaemia and circulatory collapse) were considered as severe malaria cases.ResultsIn the severe malaria category, there were 25 (35.7%), 15 (21.4%), 14 (20%) and 16 (22.9%) blood group A, B, AB and O patients, respectively. Blood group O was the dominant blood type in both uncomplicated malaria (45.7%) and healthy controls (41.6%). A case of severe malaria was almost twice as likely to be of type A as to be of type O (odds ratio (OR) 0.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.20-0.88, P = 0.019), and more than twice as likely to be of type B as to be of type O (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.16-0.89, P = 0.02). Furthermore, individuals with severe malaria were about six fold less likely to be of O as to be of type AB (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.07-0.51, P = 0.0005).ConclusionThe study revealed that on the basis of the three criteria (cerebral malaria, severe anaemia and circulatory collapse) used to determine severity in P. falciparum malaria, patients with blood group O, which is less prone to rosetting have a reduced chance of developing severe falciparum malaria as compared to patients with other blood groups.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Tekeste and Petros; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010