ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN ABO BLOOD GROUP, SECRETOR STATUS AND MALARIA INFECTION IN OSOGBO, SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

This study examined 158 malaria and 182 control subjects in order to determine the associations between ABO blood group, secretor status and malaria infection. From each participant, 5 ml of venous blood was withdrawn for malaria parasite and ABO blood grouping tests and 2 ml of saliva was collected for determination of secretor status. The results showed that the distributions of ABO blood groups among malaria subjects (O 47.5%; A 24.7%; B 21.5% and AB 6.3%) and controls (O 50.6%; A 23.6%; B 20.3% and 5.5%) were not significantly different (?2 = 0.36, df = 3, p = 0.945). Malaria among secretors (43.5%) was significantly less than among non-secretors (56.4%) (?2 = 4.02, df = 1, p = 0.045). Secretors varied significantly among ABO blood groups (?2 = 16.10, df = 3, p = 0.001). Group O secretors (86.2%) were significantly more than non-group O secretors (68.2%) (?2=15.61, df = 3, p