Blood group type may affect susceptibility to COVID-19 respiratory failure

[Pluvious]

https://www.news-medical.net/amp/news/20200603/Blood-group-type-may-affect-susceptibility-to-COVID-19-respiratory-failure.aspx

The team detected a cross-replicating association between SNPs on chromosome 3 and chromosome 9 that reached genome-wide significance.

A cluster of genes that could be relevant to the development of severe COVID-19 was identified on chromosome 3p21. One of these genes – SLC6A20 – encodes a transporter protein that interacts with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the host cell receptor that SARS-CoV-2 uses to gain viral entry.

In the lungs, this protein, which is called Sodium/Imino-acid Transporter 1 (SIT1), is mainly expressed in pneumocytes, and the authors think these cells should be investigated for any involvement that SIT1 may have in viral entry.

A lead SNP was also identified on chromosome 9 at the ABO blood group locus, and further analysis showed that A-positive participants were at a 45% increased for respiratory failure, while individuals with blood group O were at a 35% decreased risk for respiratory failure.

[Mike 03]

1. Thank you for posting this! Early on there was some very preliminary

interest in this subject that came to similar conclusions. It's a fascinating area of study.

[Pluvious]

8. My pleasure - a friend mention this observation...

"Interesting. I've heard the same about susceptibility to norovirus and the bubonic plague. People with type B are more susceptible to plague but are better able to fight off norovirus than other blood types."

[katmondoo]

2. I am A negative, Yikes!!!

[Patterson]

9. Same here.

[Grasswire2]

13. me too

and my daughter is AB neg.

[firstwife]

45. Me too, and high risk. Warnings are good tho.

[Cha]

62. I don't see anything about A negative in the article.. I'm A negative, too..

A-positive participants were at a 45% increased for respiratory failure

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=13542645

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. When I saw the post header,

I was concerned it would be a trivial difference, but the article states a very large difference.

Lucky me, I have type O blood.

I also suspect the oft-cited "underlying conditions or co-morbidities" likewise matter a lot.

[mr_lebowski]

15. Me too. O Negative IIRC ... type O is 'universal donor', again, IIRC ... nt

[ARPad95]

16. O NEG is universal donor, but O NEG people can only receive O NEG blood. /nt

[Texin]

26. I'm O NEG as well. And there aren't a whole lot of O NEGs around.

I wasn't aware that we had to have a NEG blood donor.

[A HERETIC I AM]

56. O - here as well.

[Celerity]

48. only for blood, the universal plasma donor has Type AB blood (both + and - )

I am AB POS, and I can get blood from all types, and give plasma to all types, but can only give blood itself to another AB POS.

But I donate plasma when I get a chance. My wife is O NEG, so she is the universal blood donor. We got all angles covered, lololol.

[wnylib]

20. Yes. Especially hypertension since

the article mentions ACE (angiotension converting enzyme) as a gateway entry for the virus into the body. Many people with high blood pressure take ACE inhibiting meds, meaning that ACE production is an issue for them.

I have all along believed that there was a biological differentiation involved in susceptibility to the virus.

But, I also believe that the amount of exposure is a big factor. So health workers are exposed to a larger amount of the virus than their immune systems are able to handle. The virus therefore replicates too fast in large numbers to keep up with. Same would be true for people in other confined areas with an infected person for a long period. Those who have mild cases might have had a low level of initial exposure.

Type O is the most prevalent blood type in the world. It is the ONLY blood type among the vast majority of Native Americans. The only other prevalent blood type among them is Type A in small pockets of some tribes, e.g. the Ojibway (Chippewa) of the north central midwest in the US on the Canadian border and into Canada, and among some tribes in the Carolinas area.

Yet the Navajo are being devastated by covid 19. So there are apparently environmental factors and possibly cultural ones. Intermating (voluntary or otherwise) with non Native people may have introduced other blood types among them.

There is a very high concentration of Type A among aboriginal Australians. I wonder how they are being affected by the virus.

[Dream Girl]

31. Aren't African Americans most type O as well? I am O positive.

[Igel]

50. Not going to check reliability.

Just fyi.

https://www.livescience.com/36559-common-blood-type-donation.html

[wnylib]

57. Your link proves what I have been

saying. Those percentages indicate that blood types vary within and across ethnic and racial categories. They do not belong exclusively to any one racial or ethnic group.

When there are notable larger densities of one type over all others, that's generally because of isolation of a population group from other people, due to geography or to marriage customs.

Regarding Native Americans, there have been numerous intermarriages with people of other groups over the centuries, introducing other types besides O to Native American populations. This is especially true in South America, where Spanish and Portuguese conquerors and priests took Native women as wives, concubines, or slaves. The majority of Spanish conquistadores came to the Americas without women and settled in with Native women. At least until they got established with land, money, and titles. Then they sent to Europe for a "suitable" wife.

But among Native groups who were more isolated from Europeans so that intermating was rare or non-existant, their blood types are O. Except for pockets of A. There are other blood indicators besides the ABO and rh indicators. Some are present only in Native Americans or a very small group of Asians.

My mother's parents came to America as very young children from northern Germany. Her blood type was A+ which I inherited. My father's father was German Swiss and Algonquian. His mother was English, Mohawk, and Seneca. His blood type was O Neg. But, because of the mix of European and Native heritage in his family, and since he was not tested for Native blood indicators, and also since O is the most common type in the world, I do not know if his O type was due to Native or European ancestry. Blood type is not a race or ethnicity indicator, except in isolated populations with centuries of isolation where only one type was heavily predominant to begin with.

I did get the least common blood type wrong in another post, at least according to your link. I said it was B and your link says it is AB. I remembered it incorrectly. It's a long time since the topic was covered in my biology and anthro courses. Mea culpa.

[Celerity]

51. blood types in the U.S. population by race

https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/blood-types.html?icid=rdrt-blood-types&imed=direct&isource=drupal

[wnylib]

53. Blood types are not the same as

ethnic or racial identity. So, yes, a lot of people of African descent have type O. But so do most Europeans and Asians. Blood types are inherited on an individual, not group or ethnic or racial basis. So, the child of a white, European American with type O and an African American of type A would have type A because A is dominant over O.

The chances of anyone from any place having type O are greater than having type A or B simply because O is the most common type in the world. Type B is the least common. Anybody from anywhere can have any type. It is not a racially linked heredity.

The exception is Native Americans. The original small group that became the ancestors of later Native Americans apparently had type O. The Americas were so isolated from the rest of the world for so long that other blood types did not exist among them before Columbus, except for a few small pockets of Type A. The type A might have come from people of North America's Arctic region, where they would have mingled with other Arctic people from northern Asia and Europe, e.g. the Lapps. Some Arctic people of North America moved farther south in the distant past with some of them having type
A.

[ananda]

43. O Positive here.

No underlying conditions.

I'm still staying away from this virus.

I think it's ugly no matter what, even
if I have a better chance of surviving it.

[Vinca]

4. O positive and amazed I consider this the best news of the day.

[phylny]

5. I'm AB+

I'll have to see what this means for me!

[BusyBeingBest]

40. Me too. They didn't mention it at all, so

who knows at this point.

[phylny]

59. Maybe we're just half-screwed.

I don't mean to make a joke, but...who knows?

[spinbaby]

6. Uh oh.

I’m A negative.

[Totally Tunsie]

7. A+ here. I'm sooooo tired of winning!

[luvtheGWN]

29. Yeah.

Me too............

[DFW]

36. Me as well. uh-oh. n/t

[Pacifist Patriot]

38. With other underlying conditions, this just gets better and better.

Bloody hell!

[live love laugh]

58. Shit! Me too. nt

[onecaliberal]

10. Of course my entire family is A positive. Fuck

[Pacifist Patriot]

39. Mine too.

[wnylib]

11. Oh, shit! I am A+ and also have asthma.

Now I am REALLY paranoid about infection.

[Xipe Totec]

12. That's a very strange result, since the predominant Native American blood type is O-

And they are being devastated by COVID-19.

I'm not rejecting the results, just stating that you should not feel safe just because you don't have A+ blood type.

[JT45242]

17. Similar thought

African Americans are also predominantly type O. And their mortality rate is very high.

I wonder if this is a case of a skewed sample bias. [haven't read the paper yet] But if you were looking at a convenience sample of cases form Europe, you might get weird results.

One of the HUGE problems here is that people are in such a rush to get information and publications out, they aren't taking the time to do a careful co-factor analysis.

Human research is hard and tedious, Disease research even more so because we have to work backwards from correlation to causality. On Covid this is made nearly impossible as we do not have enough real data to know what is going on. How many dies at home of respiratory issues that aren't identified? How many are asymptomatic with the diease?

There are far too many unknowns to draw too string a conclusion form any of this.

[ARPad95]

18. The Onondaga Nation is in my New York county and they've had no cases as of May 22nd.

The Onondaga Nation is a member of the Haudenosaunee (“People of the Long House”), an alliance of native nations united for hundreds of years by traditions, beliefs and cultural values.

Also referred to as the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations, the Haudenosaunee consist of the
Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, Onondaga Nation’s and Tuscarora nations.

[link:https://www.onondaganation.org|]

[NurseJackie]

14. O

[ARPad95]

19. I'm O NEG (universal blood donor) and also...

notified by Red Cross I'm negative for Cytomegalovirus (CMV).

Babies needing transfusions as part of their medical care should only receive blood from donors who have not been exposed to CMV. CMV (Cytomegalovirus) is a flu-like virus that most adults are exposed to at some point in their lives.

CMV is generally harmless to adults, but can be fatal to babies. As with other viruses, once someone has had CMV, their body retains the antibodies.

Regular testing is conducted on blood donations to check for CMV antibodies. The CMV virus is present in up to 85 percent of adults by age 40 – making CMV negative status a big deal.

Type O negative blood donors who are CMV- are part of a special group – Heroes for Babies.

[link:https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/how-to-donate/types-of-blood-donations/whole-blood-donation/helpbabies.html|]

I also don't get the flu and have never received a flu shot at nearly 60 years old.

[wnylib]

21. My father was O NEG and often got

emergency calls to donate because his blood type was on record after he donated for his sister when she was ill. I don't know what his CMV ststus was.

Unfortunately for me, I inherited my mother's A+ blood type.

My father was never sick. Never had a cold, flu, or even allergies. My mother did not get sick often, but she had multiple allergies and asthma. So do I.

[ARPad95]

30. I didn't know my CMV status even though I had donated several times through blood drives

at my place of work. I found out when the Red Cross sent a letter a few years after my last donation informing me I was a "Baby Hero" due to my O NEG and CMV NEG status. I haven't donated since because I was diagnosed with a non-contagious connective tissue disease that causes a false positive on the Red Cross Hepatitis B screen. Unfortunately, you're only notified after you've already donated and they've thrown out your blood donation. No, I didn't have nor have I ever been exposed to Hep B (also confirmed by blood work my doctor did several months later.)

If I donate again and my connective tissue disease is active, the inflammatory process will set-off the Hep B screen again and I'll be banned from donating forever. I got the "Baby Hero" letter after I researched and learned on my own about the Hep B screen and my disease. I was planning to have my doctor verify my non-Hep B status at my last annual physical scheduled in April. Alas, Covid-19 arrived and I haven't had my physical yet. I really do want to be a "Baby Hero" and donate again.

[wnylib]

42. Interesting about the Hep B issue.

I learned my blood type after donating a few times and getting a Red Cross donor card with my blood type on it.

When I was 10 years old, my parents got a call from my aunt saying that she was being treated for Hep B. I had just spent 2 weeks visiting with my aunt and uncle on summer vacation. Her doctor recommended that I get a shot. So my mother took me to our doctor for a gamma globulin shot as prevention. That shot was painful! Packs a powerful sting.

Don't recall ever getting Hep B or C. Once the Red Cross had my name and number, they called me every time they had a donor drive going on. So, if they test and screen blood, I think I can assume I never had it or they would have removed me from their donor list, wouldn't they? But, wouldn't my blood show antibodies from the shot?

[ARPad95]

44. From the Red Cross website:

Wait 21 days after immunization for hepatitis B as long as you are not given the immunization for exposure to hepatitis B.

The Hep B screen indicated I had increased immunoglobulins that are active when there's an infection (or in my case an inflammatory process caused by my connective tissue disease). So it didn't actually tell the Red Cross if I was Hep B positive, negative or ever been exposed to it. I'm actually a never been exposed.

[rurallib]

37. I am O- and CMV-

Have been called in for a couple of emergency donations for babies over the years.
One was at 4 AM on a Sunday morning. The phone rings. I pick up the phone and the nurse at the blood center says "how fast can you get here?"

We are never supposed to find out what happened, but at my next donation I was given a small gift basket with a note from the family that said "our baby lived." That one was special.

[ARPad95]

46. How nice, rurallib! I always wonder if the Red Cross gives any kind of follow-up. /nt

[rurallib]

54. O sorry - this is at our university teaching hospital

And the answer is that they do not. I would imagine that is also true of the Red Cross. Lots of privacy issues there.
The basket was from the family. I never heard anything beyond that - no names no anything else.
I am really surprised they were allowed to give the basket.

Basically, I always thought of it as a fluke.

[Wounded Bear]

22. I think some folks are reading the text wrong because of line breaks...

the text says

A-positive participants were at a 45% increased for respiratory failure

with a line break at "A-" which made some folks think this was about A negative folks.

I'm A positive blood type. Oh great, a 3rd co-morbidity factor to worry about.

[Cha]

52. I was going to say.. I don't see anything about A-.. what

am I missing?

[oldsoftie]

23. I knew what it was before I read it Because I'm A+ nt

[Mugu]

24. The only time in my life that I got an A+

and it turns out to be a bad thing.

[Wounded Bear]

55. You must have studied hard to get an A+ on your blood test, though...

that's something to be proud of.

[LeftInTX]

25. I'm very skeptical

Minorities are much likely to have O type blood than Caucasians and are much more likely to have complications from Covid 19.


Caption: Distribution of the O type blood in native populations of the world

[ARPad95]

33. Higher rates of hypertension, obesity and diabetes factor in.

https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/why-high-blood-pressure-is-a-silent-killer/high-blood-pressure-and-african-americans

Why so many African-Americans have high blood pressure

Theories include higher rates of obesity and diabetes among African-Americans. Researchers have also found that there may be a gene that makes African-Americans much more salt sensitive. In people who have this gene, as little as one extra gram (half a teaspoon) of salt could raise blood pressure as much as 5 mm Hg.

[wnylib]

49. I have seen this map before, and

the accompanying maps for A and B distribution percentages. That map is what I based my comments on in an earlier post.

I think you might be misinterpreting what the map shows. It shows that, in all regions of the world, except North and South America, the populations have a mix of all the blood types. In North and South America, the Native Americans ALL have type O except for a few pockets of Type A in North America only.

So, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia all have Types A and O. B and AB are most common in central and eastern Asia, but also exist in modern populations of Europe and the Americas. There is a very heavy prevalence of O in Ireland, but not in England. With the exception of Native Americans, the various blood types are distributed among all ethnicities and racial groups. They are not exclusive to any one "minority" which might well not be a minority in places outside the US.

In other words, blood type does not equal race or ethnicity.

The exception among Native Americans is due to their almost complete isolation from the rest of the world before Columbus. The founding population for Native Americans apparently had only or very predominantly Type O. Any other types that might have arrived later were submerged and lost by being hugely outnumbered by people with Type O.

Biology alone does not determine vulnerability to or severity of infection. Environmental and cultural custom factors are also involved. Access to nutritious food. Access to water. Density of living conditions. Access to health care. Social structure and relationships.

[Hekate]

27. A-positive over here... Glad to hear researchers are making progress, nonetheless

[Auggie]

28. A+. Shit.

[PurgedVoter]

32. I am A+

Not the Grade I want right now. Guess what? We are also 85% more likely to experience dementia! Yeah for me!!!

[hunter]

34. This is how blood types evolved.

The human immune system has to distinguish between cells that are "me" and "not me."

It also has to identify cells that are infected from those that are not.

"Not me" cells and infected cells are destroyed.

Blood and tissue types serve as a kind of identification. "Not me cells" or cells damaged by viruses and carcinogens don't pass. When they do pass the consequences can be fatal.

Before humans were flying hither and yon they mostly had to cope with local parasites, bacteria, and viruses. Certain blood types were beneficial in local environments, which increased the odds a child would live long enough to reproduce. Other blood and tissue types were not.

When humans were migrating entirely by foot or by sail natural selection could be rapid and intense. When migrating people settled down in a place particular blood and tissue types were quickly selected for. Children with the "wrong" blood and tissue types were much less likely to survive and reproduce.

Often the "right" blood and tissue types were acquired from any native population of humans, even when that local population was entirely overwhelmed by the migrants.

[totodeinhere]

35. And of course I am A+. n/t

[NNadir]

41. A+ and proud! Of course, I have mutant ACE2, so one has to take the bad with the good.

Trapped in the house with me, I feel for my wife and sons listening to me brag about my ACE2.

[seta1950]

47. Yikes

Is AB positive as dangerous?

[roamer65]

61. O+