COVID-19: People with O-type blood less susceptible to Covid-19: UAE doctors call for more conclusive research!

• Genetic testing company finds that people with type O blood were up to 18% less likely to test positive for Covid-19.

Does your blood group makes you more or less susceptible to Covid-19 infection? A recent study suggests that a person's susceptibility to contract the Covid-19 and its severity may be linked to their blood type.

Researchers at a genetic testing company, 23andMe, found that people with type O blood were up to 18 per cent less likely to test positive for Covid-19 and 26 per cent less likely to contract the virus.
The study is said to have involved more than 750,000 participants, including 10,000 who reportedly contracted Covid-19. It found that out of the participants, 1.3 per cent with type O blood tested positive, while 1.4 per cent with type A blood and 1.5 per cent of people with type B or AB blood had the disease.

Calling the research in early stages, doctors opine that still more research and studies have to be done to draw any such conclusions.

Dr Rakeshkumar Shah, clinical pathologist at Burjeel Hospital -Abudhabi, said that there are early-stage studies that have found low risk of getting infected with Covid-19 virus for O group individuals. "However, these are indicating reduced relative risk from statistical perspective and O group may not confer absolute protection. All necessary precaution must be observed by everyone at all times. Genetic variation of blood group system may be associated with increased tendency to clot formation which increases severity of disease.

Tallying the blood groups of the Covid-19 patients he has treated, Dr Syed Nadir, acting head of internal medicine at Adam Vital Hospital in Al Garhoud, said: "I found that 40 per cent of the Covid-19 positive patients I treated had A positive blood, 27 per cent were B positive and only 15 per cent were O positive. And although it is too early to say anything, I would like to quote a study done in China on 2,173 patients, which stated that blood group O is associated with decreased risk of infection, when compared with others."

Elaborating on the study, Dr Nadir said: "Although the study does show relationship between ABO blood group and Covid-19 and states that blood group A is associated with higher risk of infection in contacting Covid-19, it is too early to use it in clinical practice."

/Khaleej Times