Filenews 26 November 2020
People with blood group O are - on average - 12% less likely to become infected with coronavirus than other blood groups. Also, those with a negative blood group (O-, A-, B- or AB-) have a 21% lower risk of getting the coronavirus than those with a positive group, according to a new Canadian scientific study.
In addition, people with blood group O are 13% and 19% less likely to experience correspondingly severe symptoms of Covid-19 or die as a result of the disease. Therefore, those who have a negative O-blood group seem to have the least risk of all.
According to the National Blood Donation Centre, the most common blood group in Greece is O+ and the rarest is AB-. It is estimated that in our country, according to Wikipedia, the distribution of people in blood groups is approximately as follows: O+ 37%, A+ 33%, B+ 11%, O-7%, A-5%, AB+ 4%, B-2% and AB-1%. Therefore, those with a negative blood group make up, overall, about 15%, while those with a group of O make up about 44%.
The Canadian study also shows that the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection is 15% greater for group AB than for group A and 5% lower for group O than for A, which increases to 12% on average compared to the other three groups overall. Those with group B face a 21% greater risk for severe Covid-19 compared to those with group A.
The researchers, led by Dr. Joel Ray of the University's Department of Medicine and Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital, who published the study in the American medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine, analyzed blood test data from 225,556 people with an average age of 54, as well as test samples for coronavirus. Of these, 44% had group O, 36% group A, 15% B and 5% AB.
The findings of the Canadian study, in general, are consistent with those of an older Chinese woman, who had first found that not all blood groups have the same risk of coronavirus infection. The Chinese survey of 2,173 Covid-19 patients at three hospitals in Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei region found that the covid-19 death rate was higher in blood group A (41% of total deaths), while the proportion of people with the same blood group in the Wuhan population did not exceed 34%. On the other hand, the death rate of people with Covid-19 in Group O was lower (25%) than in group O. compared to the percentage of group O in the general population (32%).
Each person belongs to one of the eight blood groups. These groups are subcategories of the four main groups of the ABO system (A, B, AB or O). The rhesu system (Rh) further separates these four groups into Rh positive (+) or Rh negative (-), creating eight basic types or blood groups: O-, O+, B-, B+, A-, A+, AB- or AB+.
The Rhesus system was discovered in 1939 and is based on the presence of antigens, mainly D antigen. Antigens are molecules that bind to an antibody. A person may or may not have the Factor Rh (D antigen) on the surface of his red blood cells, in which case he is characterized as rhesu positive (Rh+) or negative (Rh-).
Not all blood groups are compatible with each other. This is due to the different antibodies that each person has depending on his blood group. Those who have a blood type O are considered to be "givers" and their blood can be given to any patient regardless of their group. In contrast, those with an AB+ blood group are "receivers", so they can take blood from all groups.
Source: RES
