COVID-19: A study shows individuals with blood type O may have lower risk of contracting the coronavirus infection

COVID-19 is currently affecting the entire world, and doctors are still trying to find the cure and vaccines. Thousands of people have already died from this highly contagious disease, and the population can only rely on protections that can help lessen the chances of getting infected.

People today can’t freely go out of their homes. They can’t travel, and even going to markets to buy food is risky due to the virus, but there is no vaccine yet, so everyone needs to live with it, at least for now. Wearing a face mask, face shield, and social distancing are considered as the new normal today and people have to follow or be infected.

A new study on blood types and COVID-19

In the quest to find COVID-19 cure and preventive medicines that can boost immunity to the disease, scientists and doctors continue to work round-the-clock. As they do their research, they are also discovering many things, and in one of the newest studies, it was revealed that individuals with blood type O may have a lower risk of getting infected.

It was added that these people are also likely to get severely sick. This simply means that those with blood type O have a great advantage in this time of pandemic and from severe illnesses.

CNN News reported that a Danish study discovered this after noticing that in over 7,400 people who tested positive for COVID-19, only 38 percent of them have blood type O. It was said that around 41 percent of the 2.2 million population has this blood type.

In a separate study conducted in Canada, it was found that in 95 patients who are critically ill in the ICUs have blood types A or AB. In comparison to those who have type O, they also stay much longer in the intensive care unit.

What this study means

This research that was published in the American Society of Hematology’s Journal Blood Advances provides evidence that blood types also play a role in people’s immunity and susceptibility to infections like COVID-19. It also has an effect on how serious their illness could get or heal.

Then again, more testings and research are needed for this study as the exact reasons for such findings are not yet clear. Scientists will look into this discovery further so they can conclude why people with blood type O are less affected by severe illnesses or infections.

"As a clinician, it is at the back of my mind when I look at patients and stratify them,” Dr. Mypinder Sekhon, the author of the Canadian study said. “But in terms of a definitive marker, we need repeated findings across many jurisdictions that show the same thing."