Amazing stuff!
"... scientists have identified the world’s rarest blood group, known as Gwada-negative. It's a blood group so rare that only one woman in the world is known to have it.
The existence of the unique blood type was first suspected in 2011 during a pre-surgical screening, when clinicians at France’s national blood agency, the Établissement Français du Sang (EFS), noticed something strange about a Guadeloupean woman’s blood: it reacted against every donor sample, including that of close family members.
Later tests revealed something astonishing, she carried antibodies that didn’t match any known blood group in the world. ...
The breakthrough came in 2019, when high-throughput DNA sequencing revealed a rare mutation in a gene called PIGZ. This particular gene encodes for an enzyme involved in the final step of producing glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI), a molecule essential for anchoring proteins to the surface of red blood cells. ...
This wasn’t just a rare blood type. It was a new blood type. A discovery so unique that there is no known compatible donor in the global registry. ...
In June 2025, the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) recognized Gwada as the 48th blood group. It is scientifically known as ERYR, or EMM-negative, but in honor of the patient’s Caribbean roots, it has been nicknamed Gwada-negative – “Gwada” being slang for "from Guadeloupe". ..."
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