RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ABO BLOOD GROUPS AND SEVERITY OF MALARIA

Abstract

The ABO blood group system is arguably the best known, and yet the most functionally mysterious, genetic polymorphism in humans. In the century since their discovery, ABO antigen associations with infections and other diseases have been the subject of hundreds of publications. Much new information has emerged since a relationship between ABO and malaria was first suggested more than 40 years ago. There is hypothesis that Plasmodium falciparum malaria has shaped the distribution of ABO blood groups in humans. We aim to study the relationship between ABO blood groups and severity of malaria.