Corona study reveals: This is how the blood group influences the risk of infection

Who is most at risk of contracting the coronavirus? In addition to previous illnesses and age, the blood group also influences the risk of infection.

The corona virus does what it wants. While some people have already been infected several times, others seem to be almost immune to the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen. Now researchers have discovered that this is related to blood type. Accordingly, blood groups should even be considered a significant risk factor .

New corona study reveals: This is how the blood group influences the risk of infection

It is no longer a secret that age and previous illnesses increase the risk of contracting the coronavirus. Blood groups are now also said to influence the risk of infection .

Austrian researchers came to this conclusion as early as 2020. Their study showed that people with blood group 0 were less likely to be infected with corona, while people with blood group AB were most likely to be infected .

But is that ahead? Peter JI Ellis, Lecturer in Molecular Genetics and Reproduction at the British University of Kent, addressed this question.

"Thus, in Western populations, Type A and AB individuals are 'super recipients', while Type O individuals are 'super propagators'. Based on information from around the world, our latest data model shows that a SARS-CoV -2 infection behaves similarly to a blood transfusion and that infected patients are two to three times more likely to pass the virus on to someone for whom they are a compatible blood donor," says the study published on the ScienceDirect portal .

Means: Since people with blood group 0 negative are considered "universal donors", they can pass on the pathogen to people of any blood group with regard to a corona infection . However, they would infect themselves less often because they reject the pathogen from an infected person with a different blood group.

Conversely, this means that people with blood types AB and A are more likely to become infected than pass on the coronavirus.

Blood group as a new indicator: No influence on the severity of the course of the disease!

However, Ellis emphasizes that the blood groups only influence the risk of infection in the early stages of infection . If the number of infections is above a certain value - as is currently the case - the probability of becoming infected with corona is the same for all blood groups.

Likewise, the respective blood groups would say nothing about the severity of the course of the disease . "It is important that people of all blood groups are vaccinated instead of targeting a specific group," he makes clear in his study.