ABO BLOOD GROUP DISTRIBUTION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH SOME INTESTINAL PROTOZOAN PARASIC INFECTIONS IN WARA JARSO DISTRICT, NORTH SHEWA ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE,ETHIOPA

The Frequencies of ABO blood groups system phenotypes,alleles, and genotypes vary worldwide and are not found in equal frequencies even among ethnic groups.Part of the immune response is the production of globulins called antibodies to combat the invader.ABO blood group system has multiple associations with different infectious diseases including intestinal protozoan parasitic infections (IPPIs). Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the distribution of ABO blood group system and its relationship with some major intestinal protozoan parasitic infections among patients visiting two health centers(Gohatsion and Tulu Milki) in Wara Jarso district. From a total of 422 patients, (206 males and 216 females), found in all age groups took part in this study. Stool samples were taken from all patients for detection of intestinal protozoan parasite by Direct Wet Mount, Formol Ether Concentration and Modified Zeihl Neelsen method. The ABO blood group system was determined by hem agglutination test.A total of 196(43.4%) of the participants were positive for the three commo parasites.In the sample the O,A,B, and AB blood types percentages were 161(38.1%), 127(30.1%), 99(23.5%) and 35(8.3%), respect- ively. The allelic frequencies of ABO blood system alleles were IA=0.2158,IB= 0.1747andI Owas 0.6225; the and genotypic frequencies were IAIA =0.0466, IAIO=02686,IBIB=0.0305,I BIO=0.2175,IAIB=0.0754,IOIO=0.3875 respectively. The most prevalent intestinal parasite de - tected in the present study was E.histolytica (52.9%) followed by G. lamblia (32.7%) and th e least observed was Cryptosporidium species (7.1%).The prevalence of all intestinal pro tozoan parasitic infections were not significantly associated with ABO blood groups system.The Significant association was observed between ABO and the prevalence of E.histolytica and Cryptosporidium species with p-value; 0.001 and 0.012 respectively.