Blood Group 'O', Smokers, Vegetarians May Be Less Susceptible Covid-19

<p><strong>New Delhi:&nbsp;</strong>The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) conducted a pan-India serosurvey that involved 40 institutes. The study was to gauge the serological prevalence among its employees and also understand how long antibodies against COVID-19 remain active.</p> <p>In order to assess the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the Scientific and Industrial Research Council (CSIR) took samples of 10,427 adult individuals working in its laboratories or institutions and their family members on the basis of voluntary participation.</p> <p>The CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi study recorded that of the 10,427 individuals, 1,058 (10.14 percent) had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2.</p> <p>According to a PTI report, the study suggested that smokers are less likely to be seropositive and despite Covid-19 being a respiratory disease, smoking may be protective.</p> <p>&ldquo;The study found that higher seropositivity was found for those using public transport and with occupational responsibilities such as security, housekeeping personnel, non-smokers, and non-vegetarians.&rdquo;</p> <p><strong>ALSO READ: </strong><a href="https://ift.tt/3c07gIP COVID-19 Vaccination Schedule Of Your State, Other Regions And Union Territories</strong></a></p> <p>This is different from the earlier studies that claimed that smokers are at a higher risk of developing severe symptoms of Covid-19 as smokers have weaker lungs and they also risk transmission from hand to mouth through the act of smoking.</p> <p>&ldquo;Use of private transport, lower-exposure occupations, smoking, vegetarianism, and &lsquo;A&rsquo; or &lsquo;O&rsquo; blood groups appeared to be protective, using seropositivity as a surrogate for infection,&rdquo; the paper added.</p> <p>One of the co-authors of the paper, Shantanu Sengupta who is a senior scientist at IGIB told PTI that this is for the first time that a study has been conducted in India wherein individuals have been monitored for three months (35 individuals) to six months (346 individuals) for antibodies including those with probable neutralising activity.</p>

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