ABO Blood Groups and Malaria Parasitaemia in Outpatients of BMSH Port Harcourt, Rivers State

A cross – sectional study was conducted to investigate the relationship between ABO blood groups and malaria parasitaemia in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Thick and thin films made from venous blood samples collected from 1000 consenting outpatient study subjects, were stained with 10% Giemsa stains and viewed microscopically using oil immersion objective to detect malaria parasites following standard parasitological techniques. ABO blood group typing with monoclonal Antisera A, B and D was carried out using agglutination technique. An overall malaria prevalence of 32% was observed among the study subjects irrespective of blood groups. Blood groups A and O had higher malaria prevalence rates of 38% and 33% respectively while blood group AB had the least malaria prevalence rate of 13% (P<0.05). Malaria parasite density levels >1000 parasites/µL in relation to ABO blood groups showed a higher prevalence in blood group A and least prevalence in blood group O with rates of 29% and 3% respectively (P<0.05). This study showed that individuals with blood group O were susceptible to contracting uncomplicated malaria infections but had a high resistance to developing severe malaria parasitemia compared to individuals with blood groups A, B and AB. Malaria control strategies should be directed equally at individuals with the different ABO blood groups because more research is required to fully understand the relationship between ABO blood groups and malaria parasitemia.