look news india
In 2003, a pregnant woman's delivery was delayed by 15 days in a medical college in Vellore. The reason? The reason was the woman's blood group. Bombay blood group (BBG). The woman was lucky that after a lot of searching, she found a donor, otherwise if her delivery had taken place due to lack of BBG, her life would have definitely been in danger.
What is Bombay blood group?
This rare blood group was first discovered in 1952 in the city of Bombay (now Mumbai) in India, hence the name Bombay blood group. This blood group is so rare that only one person in 10,000 Indians has BBG. The situation is even worse globally. Only four people out of one million have BBG.
Why is Bombay blood group rare?
It is also known as BBG, 'Hh' or 'Oh' blood group. BBG lacks the H antigen. The H antigen is responsible for the formation of A and B antigens. Now, if there is no H antigen in the blood, the A and B antigens cannot be produced and the blood does not belong to the A, B or O group.
People with BBG have anti-H (anti-H) antibodies in their body which combine with red blood cells (red blood cells) and react with the H antigen, due to which a person with BBG cannot be given blood of any other group. They can receive blood only from a person with BBG. That is, blood of O blood group, which is considered a universal donor, cannot be given to a person with BBG. If accidentally swallowed, the body of BBG reacts severely.
BBG challenged
The method used to test for other blood groups cannot be used to test for BBG. Considered rare, BBG is more common in India than globally. But not getting BBG on time creates problems. Satish Mahasekar, a retired scientist from Hyderabad, suffering from BBG, has saved lives by donating blood more than 40 times, but when he needed blood during the dengue outbreak in 2004-05, he had difficulty finding a BBG donor.
Obtaining Bombay blood requires reliance on local blood banks, which are always in limited supply. Even in cases where people with BBG live far away, blood is not available in time and the lives of those in need are put at risk. Still, the shelf life of any blood group is a maximum of 35 to 42 days. After that, even fresh blood becomes useless. This is why the already rare BBG becomes especially rare.
What can be done about BBG?
There is a lack of a national registry of rare blood groups. Work should be done in that direction. Medical experts urge the creation of a national registry to connect donors across the country, which stores all the information about individuals with BBG. So that BBG can be made available at that time and place and the mortality rate due to BBG deficiency can be reduced.
What is happening?
According to some reports, Life Blood Council is working in this direction in collaboration with various blood banks and National Institute of Immuno-Hematology. They are creating a national registry of rare blood groups. Currently, they have a database of around 400 people with rare blood groups, most of whom are residents of Maharashtra and southern states. There is still no proper work in this regard in North and East India. Vinay Shetty is working with all the state governments to collect data of individuals with rare blood groups.
