National, 7th April 2022: We all have studied in school that there are four blood groups A, B, AB and O, and negative versions of them. We have also studied that people with O type of blood group is universal donors and those with AB are universal recipients. AB negative is considered to be a rare blood group among the eight blood groups that we know about. However, there are other rarest of rare blood groups about which people hardly know. One such blood group was found at Shalby Hospital Ahmedabad’s blood bank recently in the blood sample of Mr. Aman Jain, a 30-year-old blood donor from Jabalpur. Mr. Aman Jain had donated his blood 10 times as group O but Dr. Yesha N. Parikh, Consultant Transfusion Medicine Specialist and Blood Bank Officer noticed some discrepant results in blood grouping with unusual features. After preliminary investigations carried out at Shalby and discussions with Dr Prabhat Sharma, Group Head, Pathology, Shalby Hospitals his blood specimen was referred to Lok Samarpan blood bank in Surat for further investigation, where Dr. Sanmukh R. Joshi tested the specimen in detail and concluded that the donor was not of group O, as was reported earlier but was typed as Ael, a rare entity ever to be found.
There are a few weaker variants of A and B antigens known in the literature of which, the Ael variant of an antigen is very rare in any population. To the best of our knowledge, is the first case of its kind from Gujarat, or in that matter, the first case to be documented from India at large. Experts believe there are only 40 to 50 people with this blood group in the world, mainly in Southeast Asia. There are scanty reports on such cases in the literature and only a few studies to reflect its molecular mechanisms. Efforts are being made in this direction to reach at the core to understand its nature.
Congratulating the team for the discovery, Dr. Vikram Shah, Chairman & Managing Director of Shalby Hospitals said, “At Shalby we are always committed to thorough investigation using world-class equipment, and this discovery has been possible with following of proper protocol and vigilance by the pathology team. At our labs in Shalby we plan to further molecular testing & analysis, cytopathology, transfusion, and molecular diagnostics.”
There are a few other rare blood groups and rare phenotypes reported from India including, the Bombay group, Indian blood group phenotypes like, In(a+), In(b-), In5- (INRA-), other rare phenotypes like Colton-null, Emm-null, P-null, Rh-null etc. many of which were discovered among Gujarati population. The recently found Ael phenotype is one such blood group.