A new study that has come out of China claims to have found that people with type A blood may be more susceptible to the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).What does this mean for patients, doctors, and researchers, and should people with A blood types be worried?The study was conducted by a group of Chinese researchers and analyses 2,173 patients who contracted the COVID-19 virus from three hospitals in,
Wuhan and Shenzhen and then compared them to the bloods types of the two general populations in the area. Their meta-analysis found that people who were part of “blood group A had a significantly higher risk for [contracting] COVID-19 compared with non-A blood groups.”
As outlined in the study, the normal population in Wuhan has a blood type distribution of:
- Type A – 31%
- Type B – 24%
- Type AB – 9%
- Type O – 34%
Comparatively, Wuhan residents who had contracted COVID-19 had a blood type distribution of:
- Type A – 38%
- Type B – 26%
- Type AB – 10%
- Type O – 25%
These percentage distribution differences held relatively consistent with the Shenzhen populations as well.
“The work is very preliminary, but it is biologically plausible that different blood groups might vary in their susceptibility to COVID-19.” Say Dr. William A. Petri, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Virginia, after reviewing the study.
But why would someone’s blood type make them more susceptible to COVID-19? The answer, Petri explains, has to do with how proteins on the surface of Coronaviruses bind to the different sugars on the surface cells, which go hand in hand with a person’s blood type.
“We know some of the Coronaviruses that infect cattle have proteins on their surface that bind to sugars and sugars are what dictate blood group antigens*. If you are blood group A, you have an extra sugar on the surface of your cells called anacitosal glucosamine, which you don’t have if you are blood group O.”
