Coronavirus More Likely to Infect People with Blood Type A, Finds Study

A new preliminary study in China has found that people having blood type A could be more vulnerable to the coronavirus, while those having type O blood might be more resistant. According to researchers from the Centre for Evidence-Based and Translational Medicine at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University (Wuhan, China) who studied COVID-19 in its outbreak epicenter, Wuhan, and the city of Shenzhen, the proportion of Type-A patients both infected and killed by the coronavirus was found to be “significantly” higher than those with the same blood type among the general public. On the other hand, Type O patients comprised a smaller proportion of those who were infected as well as killed by the coronavirus.

In their study, the researchers compared the blood types of 2,173 confirmed coronavirus patients in Wuhan and Shenzhen with over 3,694 healthy residents in the Wuhan area. According to the published research, 31.16% of the residents in Wuhan had Type-A blood, as against 37.75% of the surveyed coronavirus patients at the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital having the same blood type. Out of these surveyed coronavirus patients, 25.8% had Type-O blood, as compared to 33.84% of the general population, while 25.8% had Type-O blood, as against 33.84% of the general population. An examination of 206 patients who had died from the coronavirus revealed that 85 victims, or 41.26%, had Type-A blood, while only 52 victims, or about a quarter, had Type-O blood.

“People of blood group A might need particularly strengthened personal protection to reduce the chance of infection,” according to the researchers, who however termed the study as preliminary and stated that more work was needed to confirm the findings.

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Centre for Evidence-Based and Translational Medicine at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University