Have you ever seen siblings who grow up together and one tends to come down with malaria more often than the others do and you wonder what a heck is wrong with the one that falls sick with malaria? This may just be the answer to that nagging question that bothers you- blood group and genotype.
Research shows that the blood group of a person plays some role as to their susceptibility to malaria.
Let me break down what blood group means to you. Blood group is a medical term that describes the type of blood a person has. The blood groups are identified broadly by 3 letters A, B, AB and O and narrowly broken down to O+, O-, A+, A-, B+, B-, AB+, and AB-.
Our focus is on the broad type of A, B and O. The difference between our blood is the substance called antigen. Some people have A antigen so it means they belong to A blood group, the same thing applies to others.
From the result of research carried out in Nigeria, Ghana, China and other parts of the world, experts say that the type of blood group and genotype you have may affect how often you come down with malaria. They noted the following;
- Children with genotype AA were more susceptible to malaria parasite than AS and SS.
- Blood group O is more immune to malaria compared with groups A, B, and AB. Blood group O protects against severe malaria through the mechanism of reduced resetting
In all, you still need to protect yourself, your kids from malaria whatever blood group and genotype you and your family have.