Rare case: Woman with two blood groups found

The doctors from Jalpaiguri District Hospital have come across a rare case when they found that blood of two different groups in a patient's body.

Initially, the doctors could not believe their own eyes when two separate blood tests revealed that the patient was carrying both AB positive and AB negative in her body. The patient was identified as one Mampi Roy (21) who required a blood transfusion. She was a resident of Charakdangi area of Jalpaiguri area.

The doctors initially apprehended that the reports might have been wrong or the laboratory might have committed some mistake. The sample of her blood was sent to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital but the report was same. The doctors and the senior officials of the hospital spent two days as they could not decide which blood group they could administer in the patient.

The doctors finally came to know that the patient has been suffering from Chimerism, which is a rare genetic disorder. According to the doctors, patients suffering from the disease have two genetically distinct cells.

Human Chimeras were first discovered with the advent of blood typing when it was

found that some people had more than one blood type. The doctors said that embryos often share a blood supply in the placenta, allowing blood stem

cells to pass from one and

settle in the bone marrow of the other.

About 8 percent of non-identical twin pairs are Chimeras. The condition occurs when one unborn child absorbs the cells of another miscarried sibling in the womb. The condition is relatively common in some animals. The doctors also said that the subject is relatively new and is in the early stage of research.

The doctors in the hospital after discussing the matter with the pathologists finally decided to administer AB positive as her RH factor was positive. The doctors will keep her under close observation while transfusing blood. A doctor of the hospital said that if she develops any allergy, she may be given a steroid.

"We are carefully handling the issue. There will be experienced doctors and pathologists at the time of blood transfusion in the patient," a senior doctor at the hospital said.

The victim's husband Sambhu Roy is a labourer and they have a two-and-a-half-year-old boy. The patient's family members are waiting for the woman to come home completely cured.