Doctors identify rare blood group ‘P null’ phenotype for the first time in India
A team of doctors identified a rare blood group ‘called ‘pp’ or ‘P null’ phenotype for the first time in India. The blood group was identified by Dr. Shamee Shastry and her team from the blood bank of Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. Besides the known A, B, and Rh antigens, there are more than 200 other minor blood group antigens.
The commonly typed blood group systems are ABO and Rh D. The doctors of Kasturba Medical College came across, this ‘new’ blood group when received samples from a patient who required an urgent blood transfusion. Even after they cross-matched the patient’s blood sample with 80 units, they were unable to find a compatible match. Hence, the blood bank team conducted an extensive immunohematology workup and then they referred the samples to the International Blood group Reference Laboratory (IBGRL).
After, it was confirmed that the patient’s cell has the rare ‘pp’ phenotype. A blood type is said to be rare if less than 1 in 1,000 people have it. Also, a person with a rare blood group lacks the high-frequency antigen or multiple common antigens.
Dr. Poornima Baliga, pro-vice-chancellor, faculty of health sciences of Manipal Academy of Higher Education(MAHE) said that it was for the first time ‘P’ blood group null phenotype has been detected in India. She also supported the blood bank’s initiative to build a rare donor registry for the region.
The professor and head of the Department of Immunohematology and blood transfusion, Dr. Shamee Sastri said: ‘The patient had a very rare ‘P’null blood group and anti PP1Pk antibody in his blood that has a potential to cause an acute intravascular hemolytic reaction to incompatible blood transfusion. “Rare donor registry will be of great help in women. Finding compatible unit for such case is a near impossible task without a well-established rare donor panel, she added.