A French woman from the island of Guadeloupe has been identified as the only known carrier of a new blood group, named “Gwada Negative,” according to the French Blood Donation Agency.
“The announcement comes 15 years after researchers collected a blood sample from a patient undergoing routine pre-surgery tests,” the French Blood Institute (Établissement Français du Sang – EFS) recently announced.
The EFS has now discovered the 48th known blood group system in the world, the agency reported. The discovery was officially recognized earlier this June in Milan by the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT).
Until now, 47 blood group systems had been identified globally.
Scientists said the 54-year-old woman was undergoing routine preoperative testing when an unknown antibody was detected in her blood.
“This woman is unquestionably the only known case in the world,” said Thierry Peyrard, a medical biologist and expert in immunohematology.
The name “Gwada Negative,” referring to the patient’s origin, was chosen because it “sounds good in all languages,” according to the researchers.
