Petros Beyene (Professor)Tekeste Zinaye2020-01-032023-11-082020-01-032023-11-082008-07-05http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/20486The study aimed at investigating the relationship between blood group type and severe disease in P.falciparum malaria in three Ethiopian malaria endemic localities. A total of 210 cases of malaria (70 severe and 140 uncomplicated) and 190 healthy controls participated in the study. In the severe malaria category, there were 25 (35.7%), 15 (21.4%), 14 (20%) and 16 (22.9%) blood group A, B, AB and O patients respectively. Blood group O was the dominant blood type in both uncomplicated malaria (45.7%) and healthy controls (41.6 %). As compared to the uncomplicated malaria, a case of severe malaria was almost twice as likely to be of type A as to be of type O (O vs. A, odds ratio 0.42, 95% confidence interval 0.2007- 0.8789), and more than twice as likely to be of type B as to be of type O (O vs. B, odds ratio 0.38, 95% confidence interval 0.1638-0.8973), and in both cases the difference was statically significant (P=0.019 for O vs. A; P= 0.02 for O vs. B). Furthermore, individuals with severe malaria were about seven fold less likely to be of O as to be of type AB (O vs. AB, odds ratio 0.19, 95%; P=0.0005). There was significantly low mean hemoglobin concentration in the severe malaria patients than the uncomplicated malaria and healthy controls (P <.0001). Although the mean parasite density in individuals with severe malaria was higher than in those with uncomplicated malaria, the difference was not significant (P=0.35). Blood group O malaria patients had high mean hemoglobin concentration than those with blood group A, B, or AB, with significant difference only between blood group O and A (P=0.012), and blood group O and B (P=0.050). Furthermore, blood group O malaria patients were found to have a relatively low mean parasite density than patients with either blood group A or AB, but there was no significant difference in both cases (P=0.55 for O vs. A; P= 0.90 for O vs. AB) .The study revealed that on the basis of depressed hemoglobin concentration, patients with blood group O were less prone to severe P.falciparum malaria as compared to patients with blood groups A or B.enMalariaABO Blood GroupSevere MalariaUncomplicated MalariaThesis