Coronavirus: Is Any Blood Group More Sensitive To Infection?

For every disease, whether it is a new cause or a previously known cause, some scientists are involved in the study of prevention as well as the likelihood of developing the disease. Namely, in order to implement better prevention measures, it is always better to “meet the enemy” and see which of his people is his “weak target”.

Based on the research conducted and the data collected, the aim is to make a list of the groups most at risk but also most likely to develop a particular disease.

Risk groups

When it comes to infection with the new coronavirus, there are several risk groups – from people with impaired immune function to the elderly. However, there is still not much information available to anyone with a greater predisposition to develop COVID-19. According to statistics, men and the elderly are officially included in the virus-sensitive groups.

In an effort to expand knowledge about groups with a greater predisposition to infection, Chinese scientists have released a new study linking two seemingly unrelated parameters – blood groups and coronavirus susceptibility. The study was conducted on 2173 patients with developed COVID-19 at three hospitals in Wuhan and Shenzhen.

Association with blood type

There are four different blood types: A, B, AB, and O. Scientists have put in a ratio the average blood counts in the healthy population and the blood groups in patients with the new coronavirus. They found that coronavirus patients had a much higher blood group A than healthy people, while the situation with blood group O was reversed – the proportion of blood group O patients with COVID-19 was far less than the proportion of healthy blood group O people From the results, scientists have suggested that blood groups are a potential susceptibility marker for coronavirus disease, where people with blood type A are more likely to develop an infection than people whose blood type is O.

Similar research was conducted during the 2003 SARS-CoV epidemic, when there was also an increased predisposition of blood type A people to develop the disease. These studies have also raised the theory of the cause of the unexpected results – it is thought that anti-A antibodies (which have all but one of the blood type A individuals) make it difficult to bind the virus to the cell, and therefore to develop the infection.

Also read: Frequently asked questions and myths about vaccination