ALLELIC AND GENOTYPIC FREQUENCY OF ABO AND Rh BLOOD GROUPS AMONG STUDENTS OF HAWARIYAT PREPARATORY SCHOOL, MIHUR AKILIL WOREDA, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA.

ABO and Rh blood group systems in humans are two important molecular markers that are routinely analyzed prior to transfusion and medical treatment. The frequency of ABO and Rh blood group genotypes and alleles varies worldwide and are not found in equal frequency among ethnic groups. Therefore, This study was carried out with an aim to determine the allelic and genotypic frequencies of ABO and Rh blood groups among students of Hawariyat Preparatory School, Mihur Akilil Woreda, Southern Ethiopia. A total sample of 400 students were selected by using systematic random sampling method and tested for ABO and Rh blood types. Blood sample were taken from voluntary students by using sterilized lancet blade and blood typing were performed by using open slide method. A drop of antisera, anti-A, anti- B and anti-D were added and mixed with each blood sample and rocked gently for 60 seconds to observe agglutination. Differences in allelic, phenotypic and genotypic frequencies of the ABO and Rh blood groups among the students were observed. Blood group O has the highest frequency of phenotypes(0.4400), alleles(0.6801) and genotypes(0.4625). With respect to the Rh system, Rh positive (95.5%) is the most dominant Rh phenoype. Regarding allele frequencies of studied population, IO allele was the most common with the frequency of 0.6801, the IA allele was in the second position with a frequency of 0.1802 and allele IB was the least frequent with the frequency of 0.1397. The allele ID was dominant over allele Id. The frequency of ID allele was 0.788 while the frequency of Id allele was 0.212 in the studied population. The proportion of ABOand Rh blood group among students did not differ significantly from those expected under the Hardy-Weinberg law and Ethiopian populations at p≤0.05. finally, the result shows O blood group is most frequent than others in the study area