THE RELATION OF THE BLOOD GROUPS AND THE CORONAVIRUS HAS NOT YET BEEN SUBSTANTIATED

At a time when all social life is almost completely taking place on-line, and when the whole world is hoping for solutions that anyhow science will provide, scientific research needs to be carefully transmitted. Whether and which blood group is most susceptible to coronavirus is still unknown. 

Last week, a number of media outlets in North Macedonia reported that people with blood type A were most susceptible to the coronavirus.

In the announcement of this data, the media refer to the research of a group of Chinese scientists, whose findings were published on the MedRxiv site on March 11, 2020.

The fact-checker, snoops.com, points out that this claim has not yet been substantiated, although it cannot be completely rejected. This is a preliminary research. Namely, the Chinese scientists conducted a study on 2,173 patients from 2 hospitals in Wuhan and Shenzhen. In addition, the scientists conducted a study on a control group of people in order to investigate the proportion of people by blood group in the number of patients with coronavirus. Preliminary results have indeed shown that people with blood group A are more susceptible to coronavirus infection and death.

But what’s important to note is that the researchers themselves warn that their results should not be used as a guide in the clinical practice. Moreover, the research is preliminary, and the peer review process by the experts is not yet complete. Also, the research has not yet been published in another scientific journal. Furthermore, the survey has limiting factors, such as sample size and geographical range.

The site itself, medrxiv.org, states in its home page that their reports are preliminary and not certified, so they should not be transmitted to the media as confidential sources of information.

„medRxiv (се изговара “мед аркајв”) е бесплатен сервер за интернет архиви и дистрибуција на целосни, но необјавени ракописи за медицински, клинички и слични здравствени науки. Тие предизданија претставуваат прелиминарни извештаи за работа кои што не се заверени од рецензија. Не треба да се потпираме на нив при водењето клиничка пракса или било каква активност поврзана со здравјето и тие не треба да се објавуваат во медиумите за вести како утврдени информации.“

There is an understandable need to inform the citizens about advances in medicine, but publishing preliminary results from certain researches, without publishing  the warnings, can mislead the citizens. Such research may help medical experts and professionals. Still other citizens “should not take these statistics seriously, and if you have blood group A, don’t panic,” warns the researcher Gao Yingdai in the China South Monitoring Post.