ABO Blood Groups and Severity to Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria Infections

Malaria is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in pregnant women and children worldwide. This vectorborne disease is transmitted by female anopheline mosquitoes and caused by five species of the genus Plasmodium; Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae, P. knowlesi. Among these disease-causing parasites, P. falciparum is the most virulent species causing the highest number of deaths specially in regions of Sub Saharan Africa and parts of Oceania with much higher transmission intensities than in most of Asia, South and Central America. According to World malaria report 2017, P. falciparum caused 99% of the estimated malaria cases in 2016 within Sub Saharan African region. P. falciparum related malaria results in severe clinical complications i.e. severe malaria by the sequestration of parasitized red blood cells (RBC) in vital organs such as brain, lung, heart etc. The severity of falciparum malaria has also been associated with the adhesion of infected RBCs to the uninfected ones; a mechanism known as rosetting. As the pathological complexity of severe malaria is dependent on the RBC sequestration, it is necessary to understand whether different ABO blood group types are related to the differences in severity and susceptibility to malarial infections.