Correlation Between the Rh/ABO System and Infection Due to SARS Cov2 in Morocco*

Abstract

The association between COVID-19, ABO blood group system and Rhesus needs to be explored in order to suggest a model of the mechanism linked to SARS CoV2 infection. A retrospective case-control association study was performed on the different regions of Morocco and carried out on a population of size n = 5039 including a total of 4268 COVID-19 patients and 771 control groups. The differences in the Rh/ABO blood group distribution between COVID-19 patients and the control group were analyzed. The relationship between ABO blood type, sexes, Rhesus and COVID-19 characteristics was analyzed. The analyzes of association between the blood group and the infection related to SARS CoV2 showed a statistically significant difference in the individuals of groups B, O, AB) respectively, but not blood group A. In addition, patients with the Rh+ phenotype are less vulnerable to infection therefore the latter are considered to have a protective effect, however the Rh- categories are more vulnerable to infection so they are risk factors. Blood type was related to some clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19. The presence of the A and B antigens increase the risk of infection with SARS COV2. While the presence of anti A and anti B antibodies makes group O protector against infection. Patients with the Rh+ phenotype are less vulnerable to infection than Rh-therefore these are considered to have a protective effect which is the presence of the D antigen in red blood cells.