Researchers Uncover Which Blood Type Is Most Resistant To
COVID-19… And Another Malaria Link Tyler Durden
Mon, 06/08/2020 – 13:41
Genetic testing firm 23andMe have discovered that Type-O blood
is particularly resistant to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes
Covid-19.
In a Monday statement, the company said that preliminary results
from over 750,000 participants have revealed clues as to why
some people experience little to no symptoms from
coronavirus, while others become gravely ill, according to
Bloomberg.
Many other groups, including 23andMe competitor Ancestry Inc.,
are combing the genome to help make sense of the virus. It
is known that factors such as age and underlying health conditions
can determine how people fare once they’ve contracted
Covid-19. But those factors alone don’t explain the wide
diversity of symptoms, or why some people contract the disease and
others don’t. Studying the genetics of the people who are more
susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 could help identify and protect those
more at risk, as well as help speed treatment and drug development.
–Bloomberg
Perhaps most interesting is that Type-O blood is also
associated with a 66% reduction in the odds of developing severe
malaria compared to the non-O blood types, according to a
2007
study.
This might explain why Hydroxychloroquine and
other anti-malarial drugs have shown efficacy in treating
COVID-19
Last week, peer
reviewed research which analyzed the genes of more than 1,600
coronavirus patients in Italy and Spain who experienced respiratory
failure suggested that blood type may play a role in the
severity of the disease. The found that patients with
Type-A blood were linked to a 50% increase in the likelihood they
would require a ventilator. The results were similar to an earlier
Chinese
study regarding susceptibility to COVID-19.
“There have also been some reports of links between
Covid-19, blood clotting, and cardiovascular disease,”
said lead researcher on the 23andMe study, Adam Auton. “These
reports provided some hints about which genes might be
relevant.”
The 23andMe study, which looked at susceptibility rather than
severity of illness, included 10,000 participants who told the
company they had Covid-19.The research found that individuals with type O blood
are between 9% and 18% less likely than individuals with other
blood types to have tested positive for the virus.
However, there was little difference in susceptibility among other
blood types, the study found. When the researchers adjusted the
data to account for factors like age and pre-existing illnesses, as
well as when it restricted the data to only those with
high-probability of exposure like health-care workers, the findings
were the same. –Bloomberg
Auton say that while the results are promising, larger studies
are required.
“It’s early days; even with these sample sizes, it might not be
enough to find genetic associations,” he said. “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.”
