Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep:181:104880.
doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2020.104880. Epub 2020 Jul 15.

Lower prevalence of antibodies neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 in group O French blood donors

Pierre Gallian  1 , Boris Pastorino  2 , Pascal Morel  3 , Jacques Chiaroni  4 , Laetitia Ninove  2 , Xavier de Lamballerie  5
Affiliations

Lower prevalence of antibodies neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 in group O French blood donors

Pierre Gallian et al. Antiviral Res. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

We investigated the distribution of antibodies neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 according to age, sex or blood group in French blood donors. In 464 samples collected before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 (2017 and 2018), our virus neutralization assay had a 100% specificity. It was used to test 998 samples collected from blood donors during the last week of March or the first week of April 2020. As expected at this stage of the outbreak, the prevalence was low (2.7%) and, importantly, criteria for blood donation imply that the vast majority of seropositives had asymptomatic or pauci-symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections. Seroprevalence values did not differ significantly among age groups (but were slightly higher in donors <30yo and ≥60yo), and between males and females (2.82% vs 2.69%), unlike what has been observed regarding hospitalizations admission to ICU and death rates in France. By contrast, we observed that the proportion of seropositives was significantly lower in group O donors (1.32% vs 3.86% in other donors, p = 0.014). We conclude that virus infection seems to occur with a similar incidence in men and women among French blood donors, but that blood group O persons are less at risk of being infected and not only of suffering from severe clinical presentations, as previously suggested.

Keywords: Blood donors; Blood groups; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Seroneutralisation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

  • Detection of neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 to determine population exposure in Scottish blood donors between March and May 2020.
    Thompson CP, Grayson NE, Paton RS, Bolton JS, Lourenço J, Penman BS, Lee LN, Odon V, Mongkolsapaya J, Chinnakannan S, Dejnirattisai W, Edmans M, Fyfe A, Imlach C, Kooblall K, Lim N, Liu C, López-Camacho C, McInally C, McNaughton AL, Ramamurthy N, Ratcliff J, Supasa P, Sampson O, Wang B, Mentzer AJ, Turner M, Semple MG, Baillie K; ISARIC4C Investigators; Harvala H, Screaton GR, Temperton N, Klenerman P, Jarvis LM, Gupta S, Simmonds P. Thompson CP, et al. Euro Surveill. 2020 Oct;25(42):2000685. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.42.2000685. Euro Surveill. 2020. PMID: 33094713 Free PMC article.
  • Serum-IgG responses to SARS-CoV-2 after mild and severe COVID-19 infection and analysis of IgG non-responders.
    Marklund E, Leach S, Axelsson H, Nyström K, Norder H, Bemark M, Angeletti D, Lundgren A, Nilsson S, Andersson LM, Yilmaz A, Lindh M, Liljeqvist JÅ, Gisslén M. Marklund E, et al. PLoS One. 2020 Oct 21;15(10):e0241104. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241104. eCollection 2020. PLoS One. 2020. PMID: 33085715 Free PMC article.
  • Seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 among blood donors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
    Amorim Filho L, Szwarcwald CL, Mateos SOG, Leon ACMP, Medronho RA, Veloso VG, Lopes JIF, Porto LCMS, Chieppe A, Werneck GL; Grupo Hemorio de Pesquisa em Covid-19. Amorim Filho L, et al. Rev Saude Publica. 2020;54:69. doi: 10.11606/s1518-8787.2020054002643. Epub 2020 Jul 6. Rev Saude Publica. 2020. PMID: 32638883 Free PMC article.
  • A comparison of four serological assays for detecting anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in human serum samples from different populations.
    Grzelak L, Temmam S, Planchais C, Demeret C, Tondeur L, Huon C, Guivel-Benhassine F, Staropoli I, Chazal M, Dufloo J, Planas D, Buchrieser J, Rajah MM, Robinot R, Porrot F, Albert M, Chen KY, Crescenzo-Chaigne B, Donati F, Anna F, Souque P, Gransagne M, Bellalou J, Nowakowski M, Backovic M, Bouadma L, Le Fevre L, Le Hingrat Q, Descamps D, Pourbaix A, Laouénan C, Ghosn J, Yazdanpanah Y, Besombes C, Jolly N, Pellerin-Fernandes S, Cheny O, Ungeheuer MN, Mellon G, Morel P, Rolland S, Rey FA, Behillil S, Enouf V, Lemaitre A, Créach MA, Petres S, Escriou N, Charneau P, Fontanet A, Hoen B, Bruel T, Eloit M, Mouquet H, Schwartz O, van der Werf S. Grzelak L, et al. Sci Transl Med. 2020 Sep 2;12(559):eabc3103. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abc3103. Epub 2020 Aug 17. Sci Transl Med. 2020. PMID: 32817357 Free PMC article.
  • Beyond serosurveys: Human biology and the measurement of SARS-Cov-2 antibodies.
    McDade TW, Sancilio A. McDade TW, et al. Am J Hum Biol. 2020 Sep;32(5):e23483. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.23483. Epub 2020 Aug 9. Am J Hum Biol. 2020. PMID: 32776378 Free PMC article. Review. No abstract available.
See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Cai H. Sex difference and smoking predisposition in patients with COVID-19. Lancet. 2020;4:E20. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30117-X. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cheng Y., Cheng G., Chui C.H., Lau F.Y. ABO blood group and susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 2005;293:1450–1451. doi: 10.1001/jama.293.12.1450-c. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dai X. ABO blood group predisposes to COVID-19 severity and cardiovascular diseases. Eur. J. Prev Cardiol. 2020 doi: 10.1177/2047487320922370. 2020 Apr 28:2047487320922370. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ellinghaus D., Degenhardt F., Bujanda L., Buti M., Albillos A., Invernizzi P., Fernández J., Prati D., Baselli G., Asselta R., Grimsrud M.M., Milani C., Aziz F., Kässens J., May S., Wendorff M., Wienbrandt L., Uellendahl-Werth F., Zheng T., Yi X., de Pablo R., Chercoles A.G., Palom A., Garcia-Fernandez A.E., Rodriguez-Frias F., Zanella A., Bandera A., Protti A., Aghemo A., Lleo A., Biondi A., Caballero-Garralda A., Gori A., Tanck A., Carreras Nolla A., Latiano A., Fracanzani A.L., Peschuck A., Julià A., Pesenti A., Voza A., Jiménez D., Mateos B., Nafria Jimenez B., Quereda C., Paccapelo C., Gassner C., Angelini C., Cea C., Solier A., Pestaña D., Muñiz-Diaz E., Sandoval E., Paraboschi E.M., Navas E., García Sánchez F., Ceriotti F., Martinelli-Boneschi F., Peyvandi F., Blasi F., Téllez L., Blanco-Grau A., Hemmrich-Stanisak G., Grasselli G., Costantino G., Cardamone G., Foti G., Aneli S., Kurihara H., ElAbd H., My I., Galván-Femenia I., Martín J., Erdmann J., Ferrusquía-Acosta J., Garcia-Etxebarria K., Izquierdo-Sanchez L., Bettini L.R., Sumoy L., Terranova L., Moreira L., Santoro L., Scudeller L., Mesonero F., Roade L., Rühlemann M.C., Schaefer M., Carrabba M., Riveiro-Barciela M., Figuera Basso M.E., Valsecchi M.G., Hernandez-Tejero M., Acosta-Herrera M., D'Angiò M., Baldini M., Cazzaniga M., Schulzky M., Cecconi M., Wittig M., Ciccarelli M., Rodríguez-Gandía M., Bocciolone M., Miozzo M., Montano N., Braun N., Sacchi N., Martínez N., Özer O., Palmieri O., Faverio P., Preatoni P., Bonfanti P., Omodei P., Tentorio P., Castro P., Rodrigues P.M., Blandino Ortiz A., de Cid R., Ferrer R., Gualtierotti R., Nieto R., Goerg S., Badalamenti S., Marsal S., Matullo G., Pelusi S., Juzenas S., Aliberti S., Monzani V., Moreno V., Wesse T., Lenz T.L., Pumarola T., Rimoldi V., Bosari S., Albrecht W., Peter W., Romero-Gómez M., D'Amato M., Duga S., Banales J.M., Hov J.R., Folseraas T., Valenti L., Franke A., Karlsen T.H. Severe covid-19 GWAS group. Genomewide association study of severe covid-19 with respiratory failure. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020 doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2020283. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guan W.J., Ni Z.Y., Hu Y., Liang W.H., Ou C.Q., He J.X., Liu L., Shan H., Lei C.L., Hui D.S.C., Du B., Li L.J., Zeng G., Yuen K.Y., Chen R.C., Tang C.L., Wang T., Chen P.Y., Xiang J., Li S.Y., Wang J.L., Liang Z.J., Peng Y.X., Wei L., Liu Y., Hu Y.H., Peng P., Wang J.M., Liu J.Y., Chen Z., Li G., Zheng Z.J., Qiu S.Q., Luo J., Ye C.J., Zhu S.Y., Zhong N.S., China Medical Treatment Expert Group for Covid-19 Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020;382:1708–1720. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2002032. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms