Is there a relationship between blood groups and Corona?
The symptoms of a COVID-19 patient can be very confusing at times. Sometimes a patient has no symptoms and sometimes they die. There is no explanation for this. However, the medical and health experts have suggested that maybe blood types could have an impact on affecting the immune system of a corona patient.
That is why some people do not notice that they have been infected by COVID-19 while some people end up self-isolating themselves, on hospital beds & ventilators, and some even die. It is the reality that this coronavirus disease affects each person differently and makes it very difficult for us to find out how many people are infected and how many have strengthened their immune system. Hence, the number of unreported cases are very high.
Here’s what researchers have found so far!
After some examining by the researchers of German and Norway, they figured that distinct blood types affect Coronavirus disease. Moreso, they came up with astonishing results which they also published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
They analyzed that the blood type might play a major role in patients with specifically critical forms of the disease.
According to a study, the researchers tested 1,610 patients with Coronavirus disease that had a history of respiratory illnesses in Spain and Italy. The main places where people were affected the most were Milan, Madrid, Monza, San Sebastian and Barcelona. All the corona affected patients were going through a severe type of disease and some did not even survive.
Blood group A has the highest risk
The several tests and examinations done by the researchers show us that people with blood group A have higher risks of getting affected by the coronavirus disease. Around 43% of people in Germany have this blood type. These people, in case they get affected, will require more oxygen supply and ventilators as compared to the people with blood group O, which cover 41 % of Germany’s population.
Blood group with lower risk
People with blood group O consider themselves lucky with coronavirus. Although they have the lowest risk of getting affected by the virus, they still are not entirely guarded by the coronavirus disease.
On the other hand, people that belong to blood type O negative (O-) are considered the universal blood donors and can give blood to any blood type in need of blood transfusion.
Outcomes of this research
Now after this blood research, the results may help in creating some great drug treatments for COVID-19. Moreover, the people involved in this research have used similar ways while searching for treatments to fight various other illnesses.
For example, when malaria was spreading rapidly, scientists found out a link between malaria and how different type groups reacted to it. That is when they found out that blood type O rarely developed any symptoms of malaria and was protected against the extreme form of malaria.
Considering other blood groups, such as blood type A, the research showed that during plague, these people showed the mildest symptoms.
To conclude, all the coronavirus disease researches were done keeping high-risk patients in mind, patients having severe health issues like heart problems, diabetes, etc. But recently, smokers are also found to be a potentially high-risk group. Researchers around the world are now looking at Coronavirus disease with a different perspective and are trying to solve this jigsaw puzzle.
Manmeet Kaur