People With Blood Type A May Be At Higher Risk Of Covid-19 Infection & Severe Symptoms, Say Researchers

Patients With Blood Type A May Be More Vulnerable To Covid-19, Say Medical Researchers In China

While a lot still remains unknown about Covid-19, some medical researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery.

On Tuesday (17 Mar), South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that patients with Blood Type A could be more vulnerable to Covid-19.

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The report was based on a study led by Wang Xinghuan with the Centre for Evidence-Based and Translational Medicine at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University.

Note that the study is only in its preliminary stages so results are awaiting peer review.

People with Blood Type A are more vulnerable

Chinese medical researchers have been working overtime to uncover more information about the coronavirus.

Their latest study involved comparing blood patterns of more than 2,000 Covid-19 patients with those from healthy populations. The patients were from Shenzhen and Wuhan.

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Results revealed that blood type A patients have higher rates of infection and were more likely to experience severe symptoms.

Consider blood types in treatment plans

The study is still in its early stages. But researchers encouraged hospitals and governments to consider the blood type of infected patients when planning their treatment.

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Wang Xinghuan – the head researcher – wrote,

People of blood group A might need particularly strengthened personal protection to reduce the chance of infection.

Furthermore, patients infected with Sars-CoV-2, also known as the causative agent for Covid-19, may need heightened surveillance and advanced treatment.

People with blood type O have lower risk

A similar study spearheaded by Jiao Zhao – from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen – was published on medRXiv.

According to the data, patients with blood type A had a significantly higher risk, compared to other blood types. However, those with blood type O had a significantly lower risk for the infectious disease.

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A total of 1,775 patients from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital were involved. From 206 deceased patients of Covid-19, 85 had blood type A, which was 63 per cent more than the 52 patients with blood type O.

Studies still need peer review

These studies may help hospitals avoid more fatalities, but researchers warn that these findings still need peer review.

The sample size only involved only 2,000 patients each. These numbers are small in comparison to the 198,000 cases worldwide.

Gao Yingdai – a researcher with the State Key Laboratory of Experimental Haematology in Tianjin – urged the public not to take the numbers too seriously.

The researchers are yet to provide a clear explanation for these results. The study has yet to consider the molecular interaction of the virus with the red blood cells.

She told SCMP,

If you are type A, there is no need to panic. It does not mean you will be infected 100 per cent.

Similarly, if you have blood type O, then it doesn’t mean that you can avoid infection. Hence, people must keep washing their hands and follow preventive measures set by authorities.

Kudos to researchers

As Covid-19 causes international lockdowns, we’re grateful to researchers making big leaps to uncover data in the fight against the coronavirus.

We hope that these developments will enable scientists to release a vaccine soon.

Featured image from Health Central.