The relationship of American visceral leishmaniasis to ABO blood group type

It has been hypothesized that the Leishmania use a system of camouflage or mimicry of human ABO blood group antigens to evade host defense mechanisms. In order to test this hypothesis, the distribution of ABO blood groups among healthy control donors and among patients with visceral leishmaniasis in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene Vol. 33; no. 5; p. 805
Main Authors Evans, T, Naidu, T G, de Alencar, J E, Pearson, R D
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.09.1984
Subjects
ABO Blood-Group System
Brazil
Child
Child, Preschool
Humans
Infant
Leishmaniasis, Visceral - blood
Brazil
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Summary:It has been hypothesized that the Leishmania use a system of camouflage or mimicry of human ABO blood group antigens to evade host defense mechanisms. In order to test this hypothesis, the distribution of ABO blood groups among healthy control donors and among patients with visceral leishmaniasis in northeastern Brazil was compared. No significant differences were found between patients with American visceral leishmaniasis and controls, indicating that ABO blood group type is not an important determinant in the development of clinically apparent visceral leishmaniasis in that area. The findings raise doubt about the validity of the original hypothesis.
ISSN:0002-9637
DOI:10.4269/ajtmh.1984.33.805