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Blood type can increase a person’s risk for COVID-19 and for further complications during treatment for the disease. indicated by the research of Canadian and Danish scientists. In two surveys published In the journal Blood Advances, they show how they analyzed the profile of those infected with the new coronavirus and noticed fewer people with type O blood among the patients.
The role of the guy sanguine in the prediction of the risk and complications of Sars-CoV-2 infection is not yet well understood. In search of answers, the researchers compared data from the health records of more than 473,000 Danes who tested positive for COVID-19 and more than 2 million people without the disease (control group). They found, in the infected, a smaller number of people with blood type and a greater number of people with types A, B and AB.
New analyzes have led to the conclusion that people in group O have a 13% lower risk of being affected by covid-19. On the other hand, group A is 9% more likely to have the diseaseand AB, 15%. The group B rate was not significant. The team found no significant difference in the infection rate between types A, B, and AB. “Among these three subtypes, none obtained rates considered very high, which pointed to a higher risk than the others,” they point out in the article.
The researchers explain that blood group distributions vary between ethnic subgroups. This made them remain attentive to the ethnicity of those analyzed during the study. “The prevalence of blood type can vary significantly in different ethnic groups and different countries. Denmark is a small country, but, very ethnically diverse, this has allowed us to carry out an adequate screening to maintain a solid base of our analyzes ”, says in a statement Torben Barington, researcher at the University of Southern Denmark and one of the authors . of The study.
In other research, researchers from Canada noted that blood types A and AB appear to be associated with an increased risk of complications from COVID-19. The scientists examined data from 95 patients, all hospitalized in Vancouver due to complications from the disease. Those belonging to both blood groups spent more time in the intensive care unit (ICU), required more dilutions to treat kidney failure, and required greater use of mechanical ventilation.
“We are looking at this damage to the lungs and kidneys, and in future studies we want to investigate the effect of blood group and COVID-19 on other vital organs.” These data are of particular importance as we continue getting through the pandemic (…) We need more weapons to help increase the chances of a cure, ”says Mypinder S. Sekhon, a researcher at the University of British Columbia and one of the authors, in a statement.
David Urbaez, infectologist at the Exame Laboratory in Brasilia, explains that, with the appearance of a new disease, it is normal to try to detect a possible influence of the type sanguine. “Blood groups always have important implications in this regard, either from a genetic point of view, or in relation to the proteins present in the red blood cell. These factors can influence the virulence factor of an infection and its mortality. They are also a registered trademark of human beings, and it is normal that they can be correlated with the evolution of a disease ”, he details.
The infectologist also believes that if the relationship between blood type and vulnerability to COVID-19 is proven, new forms of treatment may emerge. “We already know some characteristics of patients that can have major complications and this has already changed the way care is delivered. This may be information that is added to this other data and, in the future, we may have some other medical intervention, such as a medicine that helps minimize this risk, ”he says.
»Expert word
More studies are needed
It would be interesting to carry out larger studies, with an even greater number of analyzed, and in other parts of the world, to better understand these data. Denmark can do this kind of analysis because it has this culture of collecting medical data from the entire population, and this is something very valuable. This vast and diverse database is ethnically essential for studies like this one. “Eduardo Flvio Ribeiro, hematologist and coordinator of Hematology at the Oncology Center at Hospital Santa Lcía, in Braslia.
Russia has registered the second vaccine against the coronavirus, a step that, in the country, precedes the final phase of clinical trials in humans. The formula, titled EpiVacCorona, has a “high enough safety level,” according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister of Health Tatiana Golikova. The next step consists in tests with 40 thousand volunteers. As with the first vaccine, Sputnik V, the Russian government did not give details about the new formula, a position that arouses skepticism in the scientific community. The announcement was made at a time when the country faces a resurgence of the disease and a record number of infected: 14,231 new cases in 24 hours.
COVID-19: risk of becoming seasonal
COVID-19 can become a seasonal illness, when most cases are concentrated in a specific time of year. what US scientists are considering in an article published in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Researchers arrived concluded analyze climate models and pandemic data. For them, if a vaccine against Sars-CoV-2 does not appear and isolation measures are weakened, infections should be more frequent in the cold than in the heat, such as the flu.
The scientists used data on the evolution of Covid-19 since its inception and information on climatic variations that occurred in the same period. They build statistical models that help predict in which scenario COVID-19 can reach its maximum transmission potential globally, throughout the year. “To make projections, we also use data climatic monthly averages of temperature and humidity from 2015 to 2019, based on the assumption that these last years are the most suitable for predicting a closer future ”, explain the authors of the study, whose first author is Cory Merow, a researcher at the Department of Ecology. from the University of Connecticut in the United States.
Through the analyzes, the researchers observed that ultraviolet light is associated with a decrease in the growth rate of infections relative to other factors analyzed. Based on these climatic associations, we predict that COVID-19 will temporarily decrease during the summer, if recover in autumn and peak in the next winter (…). It is important to point out that our forecasts refer to a possible growth rate in the absence of social distance or other control measures ”, they affirm.
The researchers also point out that there are still doubts about the possible seasonality of Sars-CoV-2, since factors other than climate, such as social interventions, can influence the transmission of the virus. “Therefore, the world must remain vigilant and interventions continuous it will probably be necessary until a vaccine is available ”, they emphasize.
The social constraints generated by the pandemic led to a sharp drop in CO2 emissions in the first half of this year, even greater than the reductions that occurred during the 2008 financial crisis and World War II. THE calculation It was carried out by a group of international researchers and published yesterday in the British journal Nature Communications. According to the authors, the lesser consequence of the effects of social confinement, such as the reduction of the use of transport, for example.
The researchers carried out analyzes based on data on electricity production and road traffic in 416 cities in 56 countries, including Brazil. They represented the number of flights and production records and consumption. Calculations showed that, in the first half of 2020, CO2 emissions from transport were reduced by 40%; those of energy production, 22%; and industry, 17%. Emissions related to housing decreased by 3%, even with massive teleworking. Scientists attribute this fall to an unusual mild winter (northern hemisphere), which limited the need to wear heaters.
However, emissions returned to normal levels in July, when most countries eased social isolation measures. “Although the reduction in human activities generated this fall without precedents, the long-term answer cannot be this because it is not feasible. We need changes that are generated by the transformation of our energy production and consumption systems ”, argues, in a statement, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, in Germany, and co-author of the study.
