Characteristics of African blood

Genetic markers in people of African ancestry and tables comparing Africans and Europeans are compiled to illustrate the blood differences. The existence of the African genetic characters, R0 (cDe), D-u and Ee (e-s, ce-s) in an Rh-Hr system are discussed. The high incidence of R0 (81.9%) in Africans is evident. Studies of ABO and the sickle cell trait in East Africa reveal the African tribes responsible for the original populating of Africa. The pygmoids of Uganda and Zaire, the Nilotes of West Nile, and the Bantu of Uganda are possibly responsible. Subgroups of A antigen in Africans and Europeans are compared, and their differences are outlined. These antigens appear to be different in the two races, and a reliable method for grouping A1 and A2 in Africans is described. For convenience, A2, Aint., Abantu, and other subgroups of A in Africans are renamed "non-A1." Attention to these subgroups on African paternity studies is emphasized. African problems in MNSs, Duffy, P, Lewis, and Sutter are presented. Immunoglobulines, Rh(D) immunization, enzyme autoantibodies, and a technique to detect them are discussed and described in detail. Studies on tropical splenomegaly syndrome show that it is an immune complex disease. Fluctuation titers of ABO iso-antibodies are observed to vary more strikingly in Africans than in Europeans. This is offered as a possible explanation of the high incidence of ABO hemolytic disease of the newborn in Africans.