Smokers, vegetarians are at lesser risk of getting infected by COVID-19: CSIR serosurvey

News: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR) has conducted a pan-India Sero-survey tracking nearly 10,000 employees to study the prevalence of Covid-19. The study concluded Smokers and vegetarians were found to have lower seropositivity. So they may be at a lesser risk of getting infected by the coronavirus.

Facts:

Key Highlights of the Survey:

Source: The Hindu

 Presence of Antibodies: The survey took samples of 10,427 adult individuals working in its laboratories or institutions and their family members to assess the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2.It found 1,058 (10.14%) had antibodies against Covid.

• However, the neutralising antibodies that protect against the virus waned after infection but were at detectable levels even after six months — a proxy for the period of effectiveness of future vaccination and general immunity.
• Symptoms: About three-fourths of the respondents could not recall having experienced a single one of the symptoms commonly associated with the disease.
• Lesser Risk Group: Smokers and vegetarians were found to have lower seropositivity indicating that they may be at a lesser risk of getting infected by coronavirus.
• Blood Group: Those with blood group ‘O’ may be less susceptible to the infection, while people with ‘B’ and ‘AB’ blood groups were at a higher risk.
• Class Bias: There was also a distinct class bias in those affected. Those who work from home and able to access private transport were nearly twice less likely to be exposed to the virus than the outsourced staff involved with sanitation and security and using public transport.

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