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P
eople with blood group O may be at lesser risk of developing severe
complications of P. falciparum malaria, a study by researchers of UK,
US, Mali and Kenya has revealed.
The matched case-control study of 567 Malian children found that
blood group O was present in only 21% of severe malaria cases compared with 44–45% of uncomplicated malaria controls and healthy controls. Group O
was associated with a 66% reduction in the odds of developing severe malaria compared with the non-O blood groups. The
group O red blood cells hinder the formation of
rosettes,
thereby reducing the risk of clogging of blood vessels and complications of
falciparum malaria.
The study is reported in the Oct 30, 2007 issue of
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (See
Full Text)
Sources:
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Rowe JA, Ian G. Handel IG, Mahamadou A. Thera
MA et al. Blood group O protects against severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria through the mechanism of reduced rosetting. PNAS October 30, 2007 vol. 104 no. 44 17471–17476.
Avaliable at http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0705390104v1.pdf
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=31962
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7069018.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2007/10/29/scimal129.xml
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