THURSDAY, June 4, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Scientists reported Wednesday that they have found links between certain genes and severe COVID-19.
For example, people with type A blood may have higher odds of getting sick, The New York Times reported.
In patients with COVID-19, variations in one stretch of the human genome is tied to a risk of respiratory failure and another with blood type, the scientists discovered.
Type A blood increases the odds of a patient needing oxygen or being put on a ventilator by 50%, the Times reported.
Oddly, genetic changes in the protein the virus needs to infect cells didn’t make a difference in the risk for severe infection.
These findings suggest that unknown factors may play a part in the risk for deadly COVID-19.
“There are new kids on the block now,” researcher Andre Franke, a molecular geneticist at the University of Kiel in Germany, explained to the Times.
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