Every day we are coming across new information about the novel coronavirus. Several studies are taking place every day to?figure out how the virus spreads, what the symptoms are and the characteristics of the deadly disease.?
Recently, Financial Times did a report on an ongoing study that claims that people of a particular blood type may be more immune to the virus.
The study has been taking place since April and the genetic testing company named 23andMe gathered testing service providers to assist scientists to figure out how genetic play a role in the severity of infections.
There were more than 750,000 participants in the study. It was discovered that blood type which is determined by the ABO gene may have an effect on the infection rate.?
They issued a statement saying, "Preliminary data from 23andMe's on-going genetic study of COVID-19 appears to lend more evidence for the importance of a person's blood type... in differences in the susceptibility to the virus."
The results say that people with Type O blood may have more protection against the highly contagious virus. The results included that patients with Blood Type 0 have a 9-18 per cent less likely chance to test positive for COVID-19.?
The study also revealed that variables such as sex, age, BMI, co-morbidities were taken into consideration.?It said that there is very little difference in susceptibility among those with other blood types.?
Lead researcher of the study, Adam Auton said, "There have also been some reports of links between COVID-19, blood clotting, and cardiovascular disease. These reports provided some hints about which genes might be relevant."
He added, "It's early days; even with these sample sizes, it might not be enough to find genetic associations. We're not the only group looking at this, and ultimately the scientific community may need to pool their resources to really address questions surrounding the links between genetics and COVID-19".
Earlier, a study was done in China which also said that people with type O blood group have more protection against the coronavirus infection and those with type A blood group were at the highest risk.