Jahnavi Sarma
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Written By: Jahnavi Sarma | Updated : May 14, 2020 9:39 AM IST
Since the beginning of the pandemic, experts are telling us to boost our immunity to fight off the deadly virus.
The COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of abating and be may have to deal with it for a long time to come now. Though scientists are working against time to find a vaccine for the deadly contagion, nothing positive have surfaced yet. This is an unpredictable virus that keeps throwing new challenges at health professionals. Moreover, since this is a new strain of coronavirus, experts also don't have any data to fall back on. We see a new symptom or a new complication almost every week. All this makes finding a cure difficult. This virus is especially dangerous for the elderly and for people with underlying health conditions. But there are a few other things that may also increase your risk of infection with COVID-19.
Here, let us take a look at what you need to know about your risk factor.
According to a study at Department of Biomedical Informatics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, your blood type may indicate your risk of contracting the disease. Apparently, people with blood type A have a greater risk and people with blood type O are at a significantly less risk. The reason behind this is not yet known and researchers say that further study is required to ascertain as to why this happens. Another study at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, also puts forward the same theory.
Data till now seems to indicate that African Americans are more prone to getting infected with COVID-19. Scientists are not sure why, but they suspect that poor health conditions among this group of people may be the reason.
According to the CDC, morbid obesity may be a very big risk factor for COVID-19. Again, here too, experts are not very sure why. But obese people are also at risk of many chronic health conditions like diabetes, heart disease and hypertension. All these diseases increase the risk of infection. So, this may be the main reason behind the higher risk for overweight people.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, experts are telling us to boost our immunity to fight off the deadly virus. This is because if you have a low immunity, your body will not be able to effectively fight off the infection. This means that even people who are undergoing treatment that represses the immune system are at high risk. People undergoing cancer treatment, bone marrow or organ transplantation, those who suffer from immune deficiencies, HIV patients and people on corticosteroids must be extra careful during this time.
According to a study at Pitie Salpetriere, part of the H pitaux de Paris, daily smokers have a much lower probability of developing symptomatic or severe complications of COVID-19. Researchers thought that nicotine may provide some immunity from infection. But other studies have found just the opposite. In fact, some studies have found that smoking leads to more adverse outcomes of COVID-19.
