Question

Is AB blood rare in India?

Answer 1

Blood groups is a classification of blood on the basis of the presence and absence of antibodies and antigenic substances present in the surface or the blood. AB blood is a type of blood that contains 2 different kinds of corpuscles but no plasma factor. It is also referred to as an indicator of parentage.

Complete answer:
Blood differs chemically from person to person. There are two kinds of antigens, which are named A and B, and two kinds of antibodies that are called a and b. The antibodies a and b appear shortly after birth and are present in the plasma all the time. They are not formed in response to the donor's antigen as in the case in the general immune reactions.

In an individual, the red corpuscles may have only A or B or both or neither of them and the plasma may contain a or b or both or neither of them. Antigen A and antibody a are antagonistic or incompatible cause self clumping and cannot exist together. Blood group AB contains both A and B corpuscle factors but no plasma factor. The gene AB is codominant because each produces its antigen and neither checks the expression of the other.

The plasma of the blood group AB does not agglutinate the transfused corpuscles of any other group. Hence, the individuals with the blood group AB are called universal recipients. They can receive the blood from any group but can donate blood only to their own group. The study showed that in India O was the most common blood group (37.12%) which is closely followed up by B at 32.26%, followed by A at 22.88% while AB being the least prevalent group at 7.74%.

Note: The incompatibility of blood groups proves more serious during pregnancy. For instance, the foetus of blood group B in the womb of the mother having blood group Aa is attacked by the plasma factor b of the mother. This may cause abnormalities like anaemia, jaundice, etc. This disorder is called haemolytic disease of the newborn.