2024-01-26 20:25:16
Published on: 01/26/2024 – 9:25 p.m. Modified on: 01/26/2024 – 9:24 p.m.
4 mn
Although the blood appears identical, blood groups have many differences depending on the individual and their genetic background.
Beyond the blood groups A, B, AB, or O, and the Rhesus + or – character, there are 390 different other “markers”, called antigens.
Some are common, others a little less. And some can be exceptional, like those called “Bombay” (one person in a million in Europe), “Rhesus null” (around fifty individuals in the world) or “Vel negative” (1 in 2,500 in France).
A blood group is considered rare when fewer than 4 people out of 1,000 have it.
18,000 donors
How is this rarity explained? The specificity of a blood group for a given geographical region is the result of human adaptation to its environment, which has shaped its genetic characteristics over the centuries.
In Africa, the cradle of humanity, genetic diversity is the greatest in the world. Certain blood groups are therefore only present in people of African or Caribbean origin.
Beyond the blood groups A, B, AB, or O, and the Rhesus + or – character, there are 390 different other “markers”, called antigens © GEORGES GOBET / AFP/Archives
In France, between 700,000 and 1 million people carry rare blood, without necessarily knowing it.
We can spot one of these carriers by chance, during a check-up before transfusion or a traditional donation.
In the event of a transfusion, these people must receive blood as close as possible to their own, as an incompatibility might cause their death.
“We need a maximum diversity of donors to be able to ensure the transfusion of all patients,” underlines Thierry Peyrard, as the EFS launches its third week of awareness of rare blood groups on Monday.
A national register of carriers of these groups lists around 18,000 donors in France.
“When time permits, we can summon a donor with the same rare blood as a waiting patient, to collect it for a transfusion,” explains Thierry Peyrard.
But when it is necessary to “respond quickly to demand”, bags stored within the National Blood and Rare Phenotype Bank, located in the Paris region, can be defrosted.
Exporter
“With around 8,300 frozen bags, we are fortunate to have the largest and most diversified bank in the world,” notes Thierry Peyrard. “We are also regularly contacted by our European colleagues or to export blood to the United States, Canada, or even Australia or Japan.”
The needs are particularly acute for sickle cell anemia, a blood disease which mainly affects people of African or West Indian origin and requires periodic transfusions.
In France, between 700,000 and 1 million individuals are said to carry rare blood, without necessarily knowing it © GEORGES GOBET / AFP/Archives
“Without these donors, I would not have been able to be pregnant, breastfeed, recover from a particularly acute crisis. My life would not be the same,” continues this young mother, who is trying to raise awareness among new donors on her Instagram account .
Yasser Osman-Ali, 28, is one of them. Urged to donate blood by his father, this Marseillais who has origins in Morocco, the Comoros and Yemen, made the gesture for the first time in 2020.
“I was told that I had rare blood, that it was very sought following, that motivated me even more,” assures the young man, who has become a regular donor. “I would have continued to give anyway, but I feel all the more useful.”
1706304367
#search #rare #bloods #essential #meet #diversity