Abstract:
The ABO and Rh blood groups are the most important blood groups despite the long list of
several other blood groups discovered so far. The ABO and Rh blood group frequencies vary
worldwide and are not found in equal frequencies even among ethnic groups. In this study, a
cross-sectional survey was used to assess the phenotypic, allelic and genotypic frequency
distribution of ABO and Rh blood groups and possible associations with intestinal parasitic
infections in Babile district, East Hararghe, Eastern Ethiopia A total of 420 study subjects
were participated in this study. A total of 420 blood samples and 420 stool samples were
collected from study individuals from November 2016 to January 2017 G.C. Stool examination
was done by direct wet mount for detection of intestinal parasites. Blood samples were
collected from each participant by open slide method and RPR card method. Data were
analyzed by using SPSS version 20. Chi-square test (χ2
) was used to test whether the
population is at Hardy Weinberg genetic equilibrium or not, and to assess the association
between ABO blood groups and intestinal parasitic infections. Observed difference were
considered to be significant at P<0.05.with 95% confidence interval (CI). Blood type O and
Rh-positive had the highest frequency while blood type AB and Rh-negative had the lowest
frequency in the study participants. The overall phenotypic frequencies of blood type O, A, B
and AB were 48.6%, 28.6% and 17.4% and 5.5%, respectively. The overall allele frequencies
were 0.693 IO, 0.186 I
A and 0.121I
B and genotypic frequencies were I
OI (0.4802), I
A
I
A
(0.0346),
I
A
I
O(0.2578), IA
I
B
( 0.0450), IB
I
B (0.0146) and IB
I
O (0.1677) in the study participants. The frequency of Rh+ and Rh- were found to be 98.8% and 1.2%, respectively, in the overall
sampl.e The allelic frequencies of ID and Id were 0.891 and 0.109, respectively and genotypic
frequencies of Rh(D) blood group were I
DI
D (07938), I
DI
d (0.1942) and Id
I
d (0.0118) in the
study participants. The distribution of overall observed frequencies of ABO blood group
phenotypes do not differ from those expected under Hardy Weinberg equilibrium, which
indicate that the population is at Hardy Weinberg genetic equilibrium. According to this study
the prevalence of G. lamblia infection was 103 (24.5%) followed by 103 (24.5%) of E.
histolytica 23(5.5%) of S. mansoni. 12(2.9%) of H. nana and 4(0.9%) multiple intestinal
parasitic infection. This study shows that phenotypic, genotypic and allelic frequency of ABO
and Rh(D) blood group system in the study participants and prevalence of intestinal parasitic
infections do not show significant association in the study participants.