Blood group AB is associated with increased risk for severe dengue disease
in secondary infections.
Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, US Army
Medical Corps-Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok,
Thailand.
Why certain individuals progress to severe dengue disease is
unknown. In this study, blood groups associated with dengue disease were
investigated. ABO phenotypes were identified by use of serum from 399 patients
with dengue-virus infection who participated in a cohort study. ABO
blood-group frequencies were similar in primary versus secondary dengue-virus
infections. However, in secondary infection, individuals with blood group AB
were likely to have dengue hemorrhagic fever grade 3 than either grades 1 and
2 combined (corrected P value, <.0001; odds ratio, 0.097 [95% confidence
interval, 0.03-0.33]) or dengue fever (corrected P value, <.0001; odds
ratio, 0.119 [95% confidence interval, 0.04-0.37]). To our knowledge, this is
the first report demonstrating an association between ABO blood group and the
severity of dengue disease.
PMID: 17330792 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]