Bombay Blood Group

11.02.2025

Bombay Blood Group

Why in the news?                        

Recently, in a rare and complex medical procedure, a 30-year-old woman with the extremely rare ‘Bombay’ (hh) blood group underwent a successful kidney transplant in India.

About Bombay Blood Group:

• The Bombay, also known as HH, blood group is a rare blood group first discovered in Mumbai in 1952 by Y.M. Bhende.
• The Bombay blood group lacks A, B and H antigens, which are found in the common ABO blood groups.
• In normal individuals, the H antigen serves as the base structure for building A and B antigens. In Bombay blood group individuals, the gene responsible for producing the H antigen is mutated or absent, so neither A nor B antigens can be formed.
• Consequently, the people with Bombay Blood Group are incompatible with all standard blood types, including O-negative, complicating both transfusions and organ transplants.
• They can only receive blood from another Bombay blood group donor. Its prevalence is about 0.0004% (one in 4 million) of the total human population.
• While it drops to one in a million in the European population and one in 10,000 in Mumbai, the act of finding a donor is still daunting.

                                                                Source: The Hindu

Consider the following statements regarding the Bombay Blood Group:

1. It is a rare blood group first discovered in Mumbai.

2. People with this type blood group lack the H antigen which makes them incompatible with all standard blood types.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

A.1 only

B.2 only

C.Both 1 and 2

D.Neither 1 nor 2

Answer C