![Covid-19: genes inherited from Neanderthals explain low mortality in Africa](https://img.passeportsante.net/1000x526/2020-10-03/i96799-covid19-la-faible-mortalite-en-afrique-expliquee-par-les-genes-herites-de-neandertal.jpeg)
Genetics can serve their heirs or, conversely, bring them health benefits. The biological heredity transmitted by the Neanderthals would have a role in the occurrence of severe form of Covid-19. Moreover, this is what would explain a low mortality rate among Africans.
The two scientific studies
A first research was published in June in the England Journal Of Medicine, highlighting the involvement of a region of chromosome 3, in Italian and Spanish patients with severe form of Covid-19. Researchers have been basing their studies since the start of the epidemic on identifying possible genetic risk factors associated with severe forms of the disease. It turns out that particular variants of regions of chromosomes # 3 and # 9 were more present in these sick individuals. A second study published on September 30 in the journal “Nature”Completes the first one. The chromosomal region in question comes from the Neanderthal ancestors, an extinct species of the genus Homo. One of the scientists behind this hyptothesis, Hugo Zeberg, informs us: “when a long DNA sequence is well conserved and is found all over the planet except Africa, it probably comes from the Neanderthals”.
A genetic predisposition
This genetic heritage, dating back tens of thousands of years, is not present in the same proportions in different populations around the world. This “aggravating variant”(Segment of chromosome favoring the aggravation of a pathology) would be preserved up to 50% in people of South Asia, 16% in Europeans and 4% in America. It would be almost absent in Africa. According to the researchers, this genetic predominance would triple the risk of developing a severe form of Covid-19, such as respiratory distress. According to Svante Pääbo, one of the biologists behind the conclusions, “to put the risks in perspective, if you are a carrier of a copy of the Neanderthal variant, it is like being ten years older than your child. actual age, and twenty years older with two copies. Svante Pääbo is one of the pioneers of paleogenetics.
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