Never-seen-before blood group discovered; CRIB named after 'India', 'Bangalore'

BENGALURU: A new blood group, never seen before anywhere else in the world, has been discovered in a South Indian woman. The new blood group was discovered in a 38-year-old woman from the Kolar district of Karnataka. Doctors identified the new blood group when the woman was admitted to the RL Jawalappa Hospital in Kolar for a heart surgery in February last year.

The woman had a common O-positive blood group. During the treatment, her blood did not match with other blood groups, nor with the blood groups of her family members. The doctors then sent the woman's blood samples to the Advanced Immunohematology Reference Laboratory at the Rotary Bengaluru TTK Blood Centre for further testing.

Modern tests found that the woman's blood was 'panreactive' and incompatible with other blood samples. Samples from 20 family members were also tested, but no match was found. Meanwhile, the woman's surgery was successfully performed without a blood transfusion. The woman's blood samples were then sent to the International Blood Group Reference Laboratory in Bristol, UK. After ten months of intensive tests, it was identified that the woman's blood group is a rare blood group that has not been found anywhere else in the world.

The woman's blood was found to be part of the Cromer (CR) blood group system. The new blood group has since been named CRIB. CRIB is a combination of 'CR' for Cromer and 'IB' for 'India', 'Bangalore'. The new blood group was announced at the 35th meeting of the International Society of Blood Transfusion.