DNA Makes COVID-19 Victims With Type A Blood More Likely To Need Oxygen Support, Study Finds

Sputnik news agency and radio 02:06 GMT 05.06.2020

 

The study results could assist in explaining why a small group of young people who are not suffering from a chronic disease, sometimes go into respiratory failure after contracting COVID-19 and even die of the infection.

 

A recently published study conducted by a group of international researchers led by the German University of Kiel, concluded that patients with type A blood are more likely to suffer serious illness if contracting COVID-19.

 

The researchers found that genomes might make six percent of those with the blood type more vulnerable.

 

The team, which was looking into the human genome to identify bits of DNA that could make people more vulnerable to severe illness from the coronavirus, found a common genetic root shared by COVID-19 patients who have Type A blood.

 

The scientists gathered and analyzed DNA samples from seven hard-hit cities in Italy and Spain, using data from 1,610 patients who were put on ventilators after contracting the disease. They compared collected genomes with other 2,205 samples taken from patients who were not life-threateningly ill.

 

They found that 50 percent of these patients were more likely to suffer severe infection and need oxygen or ventilator support than patients with B or O types of blood.

 

The research also revealed that patients with O-type blood have less probability of severe illness from COVID-19.

 

It’s not clear to scientists whether this genetic variable that causes patients with type A blood to be vulnerable to severe illness could make someone more susceptible to coronavirus. However, they think it might be related to people’s immune system.

 

A previous study conducted in China, where scientists compared blood types of patients severely infected with the novel coronavirus disease, gave similar conclusions. However, that study did not sequence the genomes of the participants.