People with blood type A may be more vulnerable to coronavirus, China study finds

[LiberalArkie]

People with blood type A may be more vulnerable to infection by the new coronavirus, while those with type O seem more resistant, according to a preliminary study of patients in China who contracted the disease known as Covid-19.

Medical researchers in China took blood group patterns of more than 2,000 patients infected with the virus in Wuhan and Shenzhen and compared them to local healthy populations. They found that blood type A patients showed a higher rate of infection and they tended to develop more severe symptoms.

While the researchers said the study was preliminary and more work was needed, they did urge governments and medical facilities to consider blood type differences when planning mitigation measures or treating patients with the virus, known as Sars-CoV-2.

Snip

In contrast, “blood group O had a significantly lower risk for the infectious disease compared with non-O blood groups”, according to a paper they published on Medrxiv.org on March 11.

Snip

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3075567/people-blood-type-may-be-more-vulnerable-coronavirus-china-study

[tanyev]

1. Huh. Interesting.

[evertonfc]

2. Type A is a far more common blood type

[Laelth]

9. O is more common in the US, I think. n/t

-Laelth

[getagrip_already]

29. O+ is common, O- is rare.....

O- is found in only 6 percent of the population. O+ is 37%. A+ is 34%. the others make up the rest.

I'm o-. When I donate, they do double platelets every time.

[lpbk2713]

45. I'm O Neg.

But I can't donate due to the meds I take.

O Neg is always in demand from Universal Donors.

[AtheistCrusader]

56. Not only are we the universal donor, but we can ONLY use O- ourselves.

So everyone can use ours, but we can't use anyone else's.

Quite the pickle. I'm at about 5 gallons. Doing it while I'm still young enough. My blood pressure meds don't disqualify me yet, but give me another 10 years and I'll probably be out of the pool too.

[AtheistCrusader]

57. I was scheduled for my first double platelet donation, but I need to check with the

blood bank and see if they are still doing it. I've always done single-unit.

[Foolacious]

64. The negatives make up about 15% of each of the four main types.

I'm an offshoot called weak-D; modern protocol is to consider me positive as a donor and negative as a recipient.

[Foolacious]

65. EDITING: Just saw the chart by country; that's WAY different than what I had learned!

Crunching a few numbers shows that the US row was clearly calculated as exactly 85% positive, 15% negative across the board. Yet other countries show massive variation from the 15% "rule" and highly self-inconsistent values as well. That is, it isn't like there's an 8% "rule" for Country X and a 21% rule for Country Y... the US is the only one I can see where there is perfect -- to multiple decimal places -- accord with a fixed ratio -- 15%, specifically -- in each type. Hmmm.......

[Lancero]

12. That's a extremely common misconception.

Type O is actually the most common, with Type A being the next most.

https://www.zmescience.com/science/most-common-blood-type-43253/

[getagrip_already]

30. see 29 n/t

[MineralMan]

3. That's fascinating.

[LiberalArkie]

8. I love data

[MineralMan]

14. Yes. Data are interesting.

I'm type O+, so that's a reassuring sort of information. My wife is AB-, so I didn't really learn anything about her relative risk. She's very popular at the blood bank, though. I know that.

[Yavin4]

42. Yeah but, there may be other lurking factors.

I tend to be suspect of any early study that says "group x" is more likely than "group y". There could be other factors causing this disparity other than blood type.

[MineralMan]

43. Yes, of course.

[Wounded Bear]

4. I'm A Positive...I'm doomed...

[Igel]

20. At least you're not being negative. n/t

[Locrian]

40. times like these you have to be B+ !! - n/t

[bdamomma]

55. oh brother

I'm A neg.

[BlueMTexpat]

41. Right there with ya,

Wounded Bear! Stay safe!

[Wounded Bear]

48. Yep, hunkered down, mostly...

[mwooldri]

58. Well you aced your blood test ehehehe NT

[Wounded Bear]

72. Took a lot of study, too...

[ananda]

5. I was wondering about that.

I follow the bloodtype diet, and according to its
principles some types are more susceptible to
cancer and other diseases.

I'm type O-positive secretor. I guess that's
good in dealing with the coronavirus if I ever
have to, which I hope to God I won't.

[getagrip_already]

31. but mosquito's love us....

I'm o-. Mosquito's always bee line it to me and leave my wife alone.

It turns out they like type o better than other types. I guess they have taste preference also.

[Ilsa]

34. No kidding. Story of my outdoors life.

Always after me.

I'm also negative for CMV, making my blood type around 2%. Blood bank is always after me for blood for people with immune system problems and preemies. Finally, it might work to my advantage.

[getagrip_already]

35. yeah, recently every time I donate it's always double platelets......

They don't want to waste it on whole blood.

[geardaddy]

49. I was CMV negative until I got my kidney transplant from my mom

who was CMV positive. That did a number on me the first year after transplant.

[mwooldri]

60. I thought mozzies were more on skin colour.

As far as I'm concerned, I believe mosquitoes believe I am the other white meat.

[bluedigger]

6. Every new factor keeps targeting me.

Age? check
Heart disease? check
Blood type? check
check

[Yavin4]

44. Pats fan? check n/t

[geardaddy]

47. LOL

[bluedigger]

51. LOL

Yeah, but the Celtics and Bruins are looking good...

[Totally Tunsie]

77. Hmmph...like this year wasn't already tough enough for us!

[Totally Tunsie]

80. ...and, now, no more Brady!

Maybe Stidham will get his lucky break.

[bluedigger]

82. I'm praying for the city of Buffalo.

I hope they remember to follow social distancing rules while celebrating, or things could get ugly.

[Totally Tunsie]

83. The Divisional could look mighty good to them.

Celebrating, indeed.

[dalton99a]

7. Blood type distribution in China:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_distribution_by_country

[hlthe2b]

19. Given that theory, Peru & Chile (and probably other S. American countries) would have big advantage

[hlthe2b]

10. Interesting. O is most common group, so for them it is hopeful premise.

[jpak]

11. Lots of Type A folks here in Maine

French-Canadian ancestry.

And we are the oldest state in the nation.

Not good

[katmondoo]

28. I am French Canadian with type A- grandparents born in Quebec

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

50. That's interesting

I'm also a Mainer with type A+ blood type. I have French Canadian in my ancestry (great grand parents). I did not know that blood type was common among French Canadians.

[jpak]

71. I teach anatomy and physiology in the UMaine system

We do a blood typing lab.

Most of my Franco-American students are Type A.

It's a Founder Effect of French settlers in Quebec.

[Goodheart]

13. I'm oh so positive that I'm O positive, so...

[CatMor]

15. I'm AB positive which is rarer in China.

[shanti]

85. My youngest son is AB-

I only found this out recently. The blood drives are always after him.

[CatMor]

86. I can imagine they are ..

It is the rarest in the United States.

[LiberalArkie]

16. Link to Reddit discussion on blood type and Covid-19

https://www.reddit.com/r/China_Flu/comments/f7diau/any_research_on_blood_type_susceptibility_and/

[alittlelark]

17. Being O- had always seemed to be a disadvantage til now.

[LiberalArkie]

18. TASS: People with blood type A (II) most susceptible to coronavirus infection - research

BEIJING, March 17. /TASS/. People with blood type A (II) are the most susceptible to the COVID-19 coronavirus infection, while people with blood type O (I) are the least susceptible, says research by a group of Chinese scientists, published at medRxiv website.

The scientists have reviewed data on 2,200 patients from three Wuhan and Shenzhen hospitals, including more than 200 lethal cases.

According to the researchers, normal blood type distribution among Wuhan citizens is as follows: 34% have blood type O (I), 32% have blood type A (II), 25% have blood type B (III) and 9% have blood type AB (IV). To get this data, the scientists have analyzed a control group of 3,700 non-infected Wuhan citizens.

At the same time, most Wuhan coronavirus patients (38%) have blood type A (II), while 26,4% have blood type B (III) and 25.8% have blood type O (I). The least amount of patients (10%) had blood type AB (IV).

Snip

https://tass.com/world/1131079

[WePurrsevere]

21. Interesting. I'd like to see more research done on this...

which includes outside China like European, North/South America, etc.

It would also be interesting to know if one's Rh factor plays a part as well since, from the snippet of a distribution chart above, China doesn't have very many Rh Negative at all (not all that surprising since the last I read they believed that it had originated in Europe.)

I'm pretty sure most of my family and friends are 'A' (I'm A-) so I'm really hoping they find that there's another factor.

[Aristus]

22. B Positive here. I'm good.

[IcyPeas]

62. B+ here too.

it's a smallish percentage of us that have this type.

[Aristus]

68. A good incentive for donating blood, but they won't take mine.

Possible exposure to Creuzfeld-Jakob disease. It's been over twenty years, and they haven't developed an office test that can rule out exposure. Pisses me off. After 9/11, when everyone in the country was donating blood, I had to sit on the sidelines...

[IcyPeas]

69. I donate frequently

all my places of employment over the years have held blood drives and I have always taken part. One time the company sent out an email and asked for anyone with B+ if they could donate for a specific child at Los Angeles Children's Hospital and I got permission to leave work and drive there to donate.

(It was my first time inside LA Children's Hospital and I remember being horrified that there was a McDonalds in the lobby!!! - that shocked me)

[pazzyanne]

66. I'm B negative, so I'm good to go.

Except for fatal autoimmune disease, that is. (It is presently in remission, thank goodness).

[treestar]

23. Is the correlation related to causation?

Interesting. What would be the underlying reason? What about blood type A would make it more susceptible?

[treestar]

25. That's the rare one if I remember right

I'll be a bit more careful, as an A.

[Lulu KC]

26. Oh well

It's been a good run.
I'm just hoping I can get my house cleaned up before I croak. Need to burn the wild journals of my youth, too.

(Day Whatever--have moved totally into dark humor mode for survival. Also clicking on all those cute videos of dogs jumping into piles of leaves and the baby platypus.)

[Totally Tunsie]

73. OMG - Same here, Lulu!

There are a few "mementos" that I don't wish to leave to my kids, and being the A+ person that I am, this might be the time to get rid of them...the "mementos", that is, not the kids.

Aren't those Dodo videos great for the soul?

[Lulu KC]

74. Yes!

They are!

[hunter]

79. If my children don't think my journals are wild enough (but they are!)...

... they have my permission to embellish whichever stories they like.

If they feel they have to cover some things up (naked pics!) they have my permission to do that as well.

I have one of my great aunt's youthful journals and I treasure it.

She and her sister, my grandma, ran wild in 1920's Hollywood.

My grandma died when I was a teenager and she never thought it appropriate to tell me her stories, but her very bad girl sister lived more than a century and told me many of her own stories once she'd decided I was some kind of adult.

[Lulu KC]

81. I will be selective

Which I wish I had been better at in my youth!

[Submariner]

27. 73 with COPD and slight emphysema with Type A blood...well isn't that just great

And I just returned from Costco empty handed. All I wanted was to pick up my prescriptions, but there was a 2 hour doomsday preppier zombie line between me and the Pharmacy. I'm fucked.

[Native]

32. Do you have a local pharmacy that delivers?

A few of our local ones have had better prices in the past than Walmart. It might be worth a call just to check.

[Submariner]

37. The CVS across the street from me delivers

I got pissed after I posted that, and just called my local Costco.

After I told the rep the parking lot is filled with doomsday peppers, they told me when I come back at anytime during the day they will escort me around the zombie mob to and from the Pharmacy counter. So that was very comforting to hear.

One new thing I noticed were the 4 police cars with cops and dogs at the ready just itching for Florida Man to pull out his gun and charge into the store.

[Native]

39. And how does an escort work at a distance of 6 feet? Good thing you've got CVS.

[Itchinjim]

33. Uh oh

Type A here.

[nolabear]

36. FINALLY I'm in the desirable group!

[CountAllVotes]

38. B-

I am B rh-.

I seem to be at towards the end of the cases presenting with this.

I just posted in another thread re: having an rh factor and immunity to the flu.

[totodeinhere]

46. And of course I have type A blood. n/t

[NurseJackie]

52. I'm O+

[murielm99]

53. A+ here.

Of course.

[shanti]

54. Oh great, I'm A+

[Doreen]

59. Oh yippee, A- here.

[Dream Girl]

61. Black people have more likely to be in the O blood group so maybe where the rumor

That backs are less susceptible to CV comes from?

[Dem2theMax]

63. A+, with symptoms!

You got your living proof right here.

[Polly Hennessey]

67. O+ that's me.

[NNadir]

70. Oh great. My blood type.

This should make a number of anti nukes happy.😁

[rockfordfile]

75. Is there anymore info in our country with regards to the deaths?

Like autopsy etc..

[Codeine]

76. A- here.

Luckily I still have a killer immune system so I should be fine.

[still_one]

78. Geez. If you ya have high BP, wrong blood type, take ACE or ARBs, Motrin, steroids, etc etc

Your fucked




I am really tired of this kind of bullshit speculation

I hear that Vulcans with their green blood have nothing to worry about

[LiberalArkie]

87. It is all those things that make some people have no ill affects and some just croak right off

the bat.

[shanti]

84. Kicking this

Somebody brought this up on MSNBC today, but not many talking about it yet.