Prevalence of Anti-Rh (D) Antibody in Karbala

Abstract

background: Neither Rh(D) positive individuals nor Rh (D) negative individualsnormally have anti-Rh(D) antibody in their blood; however, Rh (D) negativeindividuals have the ability to form such antibody when they are transfused withRh(D) positive blood.Objective: To determine the prevalence of anti-Rh (D) antibody in Karbala.Patients and methods: From January 2012 to March 2013, 226 patients (127 males and 99females with age range of 20-49 years) were studied after their consent. For each patient, 4ml of venous blood sample was obtained and investigated as follows:Two ml of blood were transferred to EDTA tube for ABO and Rh(D) grouping using thecommercially available kit (monoclonal anti-A, anti-B and anti-D) by doing the ordinary tilemethod (equal volumes of blood and reagent were mixed on tile looking visually for theagglutination for positive reaction and positive result. Absence of agglutination meansnegative reaction and negative result). The other 2 ml of blood were transferred to plain tube,centrifuged and serum is investigated for anti-Rh(D) antibody in Rh(D) negative individualsby double dilutions of each serum and antibody titration method.Results: Out of 226 individuals, 186 (82.3%) were Rh(D) positive, 40 (17.7%) were Rh(D)negative, and 2 were found to be positive for anti-Rh(D) antibody. The prevalence of anti-Rh(D) antibody is 0.88%.Conclusion: The study showed that the prevalence of anti-Rh(D) antibody in Karbala is0.88%.