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Pandemic leads to drop in blood donations

Several organisations said donations dipped to one-third of what was being collected in 2019
Last Updated 12 October 2021, 01:58 IST

For over 18 months, blood banks across Bengaluru have seen a downward spiral in donors — a situation unchanged by Covid-19’s pullback. The shortfall could be linked to the severity of Covid-19 infections among people with certain blood groups.

Several blood collecting organisations, including the Rotary Blood Bank, the Indian Red Cross Society and Bengaluru Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) said donations had dipped to one-third of what was being collected in 2019.

The decline was linked to closed colleges and work spaces but also public hesitancy stemming from past infections (and post-Covid complications), plus the ongoing vaccination drive, according to one official.

While the state government has not been tabulating Covid-19 cases by blood group, a pandemic expert in the state pointed to studies conducted in China, Australia and the United States which offer mixed evidence that the people could develop a more severe form of Covid-19 based on which type of blood they have.

According to Dr Soumee Banerjee of the Indian Red Cross Society, Bengaluru’s population is largely made up of people with Type O blood. Next follow people with Type B blood, then Type A and lastly Type AB. How do these blood groups fare when it comes to severity of infection?

In June 2020, scientists from Europe and Australia who were examining genome data from 1,610 patients with severe Covid-19 and 2,205 healthy blood donors found that gene variants in two regions of the human genome were associated with severe Covid-19.

It happens that one of those stretches of DNA carry the gene that determines blood type.

Compared with people with other blood types, those with type A had a 45 per cent higher risk of developing severe Covid-19 if infected, whereas those with type O had a 35 per cent lower risk.

Additional research in the United States found that people who were Rh positive were more likely to test positive than people who were Rh negative, and those with B or AB blood were more likely to test positive than those with type O blood, according to a report published in September 2020 in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Donation decline

“Of course, earlier non-Covid studies have shown that certain blood groups are more susceptible to certain infections,” explained Dr R Sreelatha, head of ImmunoHematology and Blood Transfusion at Victoria Hospital. “For example, people with Type A blood are more susceptible to developing gastric ulcers and cancer. Type O individuals are genetically susceptible to other health problems.”

“At the same time, we have no localised data to show whether the severity of infection is being dictated in part by a blood group,” added Dr D Jairaj, Deputy Director (Blood Safety). “For whatever reason we have seen an overall decline in all donations in all eight blood groups,” he said.

The decline is felt acutely at BMCRI. “Before the pandemic, we were getting about 1,500 units of blood a month. Last month, we got 92 units -- only because many of our students volunteered to give blood,” Dr Sreelatha said.

“People should come forward for donations. It takes less than seven minutes to donate,” she added.

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(Published 11 October 2021, 19:35 IST)

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