Kolar woman's rare, unique blood group named 'CRIB'

Kolar: A 38-year-old woman from Srinivaspur taluk in the district has been identified with one of the rarest and most unique blood groups in the world.

Last year, the woman was admitted to R L Jalappa Narayana Heart Centre on the outskirts of the city for treatment of a cardiac condition. Before her surgery, Dr Murali Babu had sent the woman’s blood samples for routine testing to the adjacent Jalappa hospital.

However, the hospital’s blood bank specialists encountered significant difficulty in determining her blood type, due to its uncommon nature. As a result, the sample was forwarded to TTK Blood Centre in Bengaluru for advanced analysis. The centre, in turn, referred the case to the International Blood Group Reference Laboratory in England for further investigation.

Blood samples from around 20 of the woman’s family members were collected and tested to support the research and confirmation process.

Following extensive testing, it was confirmed that the woman possesses a blood group that is globally rare and scientifically significant. The newly identified blood group has been named ‘CRIB’.

The name is derived from the Cromer (CR) system, under which this blood group falls.

Since the discovery originated in India (I), specifically Bengaluru (B), the blood group was aptly named CRIB (Cromer–India–Bengaluru).

This groundbreaking discovery was formally announced in June at the 35th Regional Congress of the International Society of Blood Transfusion held in Milan, Italy.

This marks a milestone in transfusion medicine and places India on the global map in the field of rare blood group research.