International Blood Research & Reviews

Background and Aims: To know blood group antigen frequencies in a population has various benefits as the assessing risk of alloimmunization, the providing antigen-negative compatible blood to patients with multiples antibodies and the development of a donor data bank for the preparation of indigenous cell panels. The aims of this study is to determine the frequencies of the ABO, Rh and Kell antigens in the blood donors in Kisangani, in the northeast region of Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Materials and Methods: Blood samples from 252 volunteer blood donors coming to the Blood Transfusion Provincial Center at Kisangani in 2015 were typed by serologic test for ABO, Rh (D, C, E, c, e) and K antigens.

Results: For the 252 blood donors, the most frequent phenotype in the ABO blood group, was O (47.6%) followed by A (30.6%), B (17.1%) and AB (4.1%). If combined ABO and Rh blood groups, O positive was most frequent, followed by A positive, B positive, AB positive, O negative and A negative respectively. In the Rh system, the c antigen was the most frequent (98.8%), followed by e antigen (97.6%), D antigens (96.42%), C antigen (15.9%) and E antigen (13.9%). Among ten phenotypes identified in the Rh system, the phenotype R₀r was the most frequently encountered (71.03%). In the Kell system, 100% of donors were K-k+.

Conclusion: Although the Africa specificities for the most immunogenic antigens and the context of limited resources, it is important for better care of patients to improve tests as phenotyping red cells.