The name “Gwada” is an abbreviation of Guadeloupe, the island where the patient resides.
“This patient is all alone in the world to date, but now that we know this new rare blood group, we have the means to seek it and hope to find other compatible people,” said Thierry Peyrard, medical biologist at EFS, at the microphone of France Inter.
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A medical advance … or a disadvantage?
The discovery of new blood groups could also allow progress in fields such as cancerology, neurology or rheumatology. “What is fascinating is that this discovery does not only have functional results. It makes it possible to better understand pathologies,” sums up Mr. Peyrard to our colleagues from the Parisian.
However, if this discovery is exceptional, it could be problematic. If the patient needed a blood transfusion, she should find a compatible person. Receiving blood from another blood group can indeed include risks, if the groups are not compatible.
“At least it can create a feeling of discomfort, something that is not pleasant at all, to something much more serious or even, in serious cases, until the patient’s death, so it’s serious,” explains Thierry Peyrard.
“It is also important for women who expect children: if the mother has a rare blood, she can make an antibody that can go against her child,” added the biologist.
Nearly a million French
For a blood group to be considered rare, less than four in 1000 must have it in the population and there are no other compatible blood groups to transfuse patients in the group, explains the EFS. In France, between 700,000 and 1 million people are rare blood group, according to estimates.
It regularly happens that people thinking of belonging to a “classic” blood group discover that they actually belong to a rare blood group. It is therefore very important to identify these people, to be able to help them if their health condition requires transfusion.
“Over the past 12-13 years, we have discovered 10 new blood group systems in France,” said Thierry Peyrard, full of hope. The researcher explains to our colleagues from the Parisian that a new rare blood group could well be discovered “by next year”.
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