Correspondence
Dr. B. Narasimha Rao,
Associate Professor, Department of Physiology,
Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute,
Ammapettai, Nellikuppam, Tamil Nadu-603108, India.
Phone: 9176050362
E-mail: raonbodepudi@yahoo.com

Aim: Over the years, large number of studies have examined the possible relationship between the blood group type and infection. The present study was aimed at observing the pattern of the ABO blood group distribution among the pulmonary tuberculosis patients from the Andhra region of the Andhra Pradesh state, India.

Methods: The ABO blood grouping and Rhesus typing were performed by using the standard slide agglutination reaction in 100 patients with a clinical and a radiological evidence of pulmonary tuberculosis and in 1400 healthy controls.

Results: A significant association was observed between the incidence of tuberculosis and the blood groups B and AB (P values are 0.048 and 0.03 respectively). The association between the incidence of tuberculosis and the blood groups A and O (P values are 0.249 and 0.069 respectively) was found insignificant. However, a significant association between the incidence of tuberculosis and a positive Rhesus antigen was observed in the blood group A (P value is 0.009). But there was no significant association between the incidence of tuberculosis and a positive Rhesus antigen with the blood groups B, AB and O.

Conclusion: The present study showed that there was an association between tuberculosis and the blood groups B and AB in this region of the Andhra Pradesh state.

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