COVID-19 Infection Risk Based on the Interactions between ABO and Rh Blood Groups in Northern Cyprus

Author(s):

Ozgur Neni, Ozgur Tosun, Eldem Albayrak, Yildiz Neni, Cenk Soydan, Selma Yılmaz and Rasime Kalkan*

Infected individuals suffer from a variety of symptoms due to Coronavirus infection and these can vary greatly from person to person. Understanding its nature and biological function is very important including the influence of variable patient genetic backgrounds and preexisting state of health on the underlying molecular mechanism of the disease. There has been an increase in research efforts aimed at understanding variable clinical manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 among infected populations as a result of the high infection rate. The ABO blood system polymorphism has been suggested to influence infection through any of several possible mechanisms. In this study, we aimed to determine whether there is a relationship between ABO blood type and the severity of COVID-19 disease in Northern Cyprus. People with blood group A, diabetes, COPD, and heart patients were found to be highly susceptible to COVID-19 infection (P<0.05).