The Rh Factor C in South African Bantu

Abstract

FOLLOWING the recent work of Sturgeon et al. ¹ on a variant of Rh antigen C common in Negroes, Allen and Tippett² on factor G, Wiener and Unger³ on the complexities of D and Rosenfield and Haber⁴ on Rh factor Ce, we considered it timely to undertake a re-appraisal of the Rh factor C in South African Bantu. It was planned to test a series of type Cde Bantu blood donors with a variety of anti-C and anti-CD sera in order to investigate the nature of C and the possible incidence of Allen's G factor. The material consisted of Bantu donors bled during 1959, and, in order to study antibody formation, a series of D-negative Bantu ante-natal patients was also included. In the preliminary stages we referred a number of specimens to Dr. A. E. Mourant for his opinion and we are grateful to him not only for investigating these specimens but also for putting us in touch with Dr. Philip Sturgeon of Los Angeles, who sent us a copy of his paper on the C variant in Negroes and a hitherto unpublished paper extending his original studies ; he also gave us a supply of his key serum anti-C^N, which we were able to use for the last five months of the investigation.