Covid, more risk of contagion between compatible blood groups: Italian study

Sars-Cov-2 can be transmitted more between compatible subjects from the point of view of blood type. Supporting the hypothesis of a link between blood groups and infection progression is a mathematical model developed by a team from the Center for Life Nano & Neuroscience of the Italian Institute of Technology (Cln2s-Iit), led by Giancarlo Ruocco. The work is published in the international journal ‘PLoS One’. For the first time – reports a note – this hypothesis was raised by Breiman and colleagues from the University of Nantes in France in 2020. The theory of the French team reports the possibility that viruses replicating within a host ‘dress’ of molecules in which the red blood cells and other cells of our body are also ‘dressed’. In this way, exactly as happens in transfusions, if a virus passes to an individual that is not compatible from the point of view of blood groups, our immune system reacts by attacking the intruder, eradicating the infection in the bud. Human beings – explain the researchers – are characterized by 4 main blood groups: 0, A, B and AB. Compatibility between blood groups is due to the presence of antigens (a sort of recognition key) which can lead to the production of specific antibodies and therefore to an immune response against the blood that is not compatible. The subjects characterized by group 0 are universal donors but do not possess the antigens A and B, therefore they cannot receive blood from any of the other 3 blood groups. On the other hand who is AB possesses both antigens and is universal receptor but can only donate to AB. On the other hand, subjects with type A and B blood are not compatible with each other and can only receive from subjects of the same group or from 0. What the team of researchers has shown with a theoretical model is that Sars-Cov infection -2 follows exactly the same rules valid for blood compatibilities, fundamental for transfusions. To achieve this, the researchers used large amounts of public data on blood group distribution and infection trends in 78 countries. They also analyzed additional datasets from different hospitals around the world including China (with 3 Wuhan hospitals), Turkey, Denmark and the United States. The data were related through the mathematical model developed with the trend of the infection in the very early stages, before each country began to fight the infection with preventive measures such as lockdown, physical distancing and use of surgical masks. “This study – explains Ruocco, director of the IIT center in Rome and coordinator of the study – it allowed us to support a hypothesis that could really, if verified, change the way we think about the spread of infection, also taking into account the blood group of individuals we could have an extra tool to limit the spread of the virus “.” What emerges from this model – adds Mattia Miotto, IIT researcher and first author of the study – is that those who have blood belonging to the AB group can be infected by any individual while those who is 0 can infect anyone without discrimination of blood groups. In countries, such as Italy and South America where there is a prevalence a group 0, the infection, in fact, was immediately very fast compared to other Asian countries, for example in which the blood groups are more homogeneously distributed “. The results of this study – underlines the note from the Italian Institute of Technology – provide a solid theoretical basis for further in vitro and in vivo experiments on the transmission mechanisms of the Sars-Cov-2 virus and could provide, if experimentally confirmed, specific indications. useful for predicting the progress of a contagion in a population in the absence of adequate health measures or to maintain a more effective physical distance, for example by selecting subjects based on blood groups in the constitution of a school class or in the organization of shifts on the work place.