ON THE TREND OF BLOOD GROUP DISTRIBUTION AMONG NEPALESE AND INDIAN MEDICAL STUDENTS

1. Nepal Medical College Jorpati, Kathmandu, Nepal. 2. College of Medical Sciences, Bharatpur, Nepal. Address for correspondence : Dr. Tapas Pramanik, Associate Professor, Dept. of Physiology Nepal Medical College, Jorpati, P.O. Box: 13344, Kathmandu, Nepal. Email: physiology@nmcth.edu


INTRODUCTION
Blood group typing is based on the antigenic property of red blood cells.It is one of the important tool for anthropological study of ethnic origin of people and for blood transfusion to avoid catastrophies ofmismatched transfusion reactions.
The membrane of human RBCs contains about 30 different varieties of blood group antigens and some of these are important; and best known are A and B antigens; which are actually complex oligosaccharides, that differ in their terminal sugar.In RBCs they are mostly glycosphingolipids.The antibodies against red cell antigens are acquired during early childhood and are called agglutinins.According to the presence of antigens and agglutinins, individuals are divided into four major lood groups A, B, AB and 0. Pramanik et.al. : Preliminary report on the trend of blood group ...

(+) = Agglutination, (-) = No agglutination
Human red blood cells also contain another antigen: antigen D (Rh) Valley.This group has thought to be have migrated from Tibet a few thousand years back.So Nepali population is a multiethnic population a mixture of Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman and other ethnic groups. 4There is also a distinct ethnical variation among north and south Indian people. 5In this study most of the Nepalese students are form Kathmandu valley and most of the Indian students are from south India.So ethnicity of medical students from India and Nepal (who served as volunteers in this study) may be different.The present study was undertaken for comparative assessment of the trend of ABO and Rh group distribution among the Nepalese and Indian students studying the medical colleges in Nepal.

METHOD
322 Nepalese (male 178, female 144) and 100 Indian (male 72, female 28) medical students from College of Medical Sciences, Bharatpur and Nepal Medical College, Kathmandu were taken for the study.Standrad slide method was adopted: a drop of each of the monoclonal antisera (Anti A, Anti B and Anti D) [manufactured by Tulip Diagnostics (P) Limited, Old Goa, India] were taken on glass slides.The subject's diluted blood cells, whose blood group is to be determined was mixed with each sera separately with the help of separate glass rods.Blood groups were determind on the basis of agglutination ractipn within 5 minutes of mixing as follows: -If agglutination occurs with anti D, then the group is Rh (+).If not it is Rh (-) ve.

RESULTS
Results have been presented in Table I, II and III.Among the Nepalese (medical students) the frequency of A, B, AB and 0 groups were found 29%, 26%, 13% and 32% respectively; in them only 1.5% were Rh (-) ve and rest are Rh (+) ve.
(Female -6, Male -3).When compared between Indian and Nepalese irrespective of ethnic origin, it has been observed among Nepalese A (29%) & AB (13%) group are more and 0 group (32%) is less than the Indians.Rh negative was observed only 1.5% (4 out of total 5 were females) among the Nepalese whereas 9% in Indians.The blood group distribution in Nepalese ethnic groups in this population is shown in table III.
In our studies the number of subjects were not many.If the numbers of subjects are increased with proportionate representatives of different subgroups On the other hand, among the Indian students the frequency of A, B, AB and 0 group were recorded 14%, 32%, 7% and 47% respectively, where 9% were found to be Rh (-) ve.
The blood group distribution among the Nepalese students of different ethinic groups has been shown in table III.

DISCUSSION
It has been observed that percentage of blood group distribution in different parts of the world are different depending upon the ethnic origin of the races.Although Nepal is neighbouring country to India.pattern of blood group distribution seems to be different in Nepal than that of India.(Nepal's population is a mix of Tibeto Nepalese and Indo-Nepalese origin having many ethnic subgroups).
In the present study, the numbers of Indian origin is one hundred; Rh negative was observed 9% the percentage distribution of different blood groups might give insight into the ethnic origins of the different groups of people living in Nepal.That might be a good anthropological study.Our's is preliminary report and presenting the likely trend in blood group distribution.
The composition of people of Nepal was the outcome of successive migrations of Tibeto Burman group from the northeast and others from south west.A very small member ofAustrallo Asiatic people, the Satar and Jhangad inhibit the Terai plain of Nepal.Temperate highlands are natural homeland ofTibeto Burman people.The Paharis are widely distributed in lower subtropical zone.People of Terai are mostly Indian in origin from northern Gangetic plain.People in western hills include Gurungs and Magars.In central hills the Tamangs are the most prevalent.Hindu Brahmins, Chhetris along with Newars make almost two thirds of Nepali population.Finally, in the mid mountain region there are Newars 50% of whom live in Kathmandu 2Among the Americans the frequency of A, B AB and 0 blood group is 41%, 10%, 4% and 45% respectively.2AbouttheRhgroup, existing literature indicates that 85% of white people are Rh (+) ve and rest 15% are Rh (-) ve.In American blacks, the percentage ofRh (+) ve is about 95% whereas in African blacks it is virtualy 100% 3 85% ofcaucasions and over 99% of Asians are Rh (+ve).2Nepaleseare the conglomerate of diverse ethnic communities.