PEOPLE with blood type A are more likely to catch Covid, a study warns.
Researchers found a virus protein which more easily binds to that group’s lung cells.
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Dr Sean Stowell, of the Brigham teaching hospital in Massachusetts, US, said: “We may be able to find new medicines or methods of prevention.”
He added: “It is interesting that the viral RBD only really prefers the type of blood group A antigens that are on respiratory cells, which are presumably how the virus is entering most patients and infecting them.
“Blood type is a challenge because it is inherited and not something we can change.”
More than a third of people belong to the blood type – making them more likely to contract the virus.
The discovery could potentially be used to find new medicines or techniques to stop the virus, the study suggests.
Dr Stowell added: “Our observation is not the only mechanism responsible for what we are seeing clinically, but it could explain some of the influence of blood type on COVID-19 infection.”
