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Susceptibility to coronavirus has to do with immune system
The coronavirus has the world in its grip. Until now, much is still unclear about the virus and the course of COVID-19. Because why does one person get away with a cough and some fever and the other die? It is a question that currently preoccupies many scientists.
An earlier study showed that the elderly and (chronically) ill are most at risk, but we now know that the virus is dangerous for everyone and can turn out differently. For example, sixteen-year-old Julie from France was completely healthy, but died of COVID-19, just like twenty-one-year-old British Cloë. The forty-year-old Giancarlo from Belgium was very sporty, but he also did not survive.
immune system
The question now is: how is this possible? Unfortunately, we don’t have a clear answer to this yet, but according to Professor Bruce Poppe, senior lecturer in Human Genetics at Ghent University, it probably has to do with the immune system, which can differ greatly from person to person and can therefore also determine the course of the disease. According to him, the immune system can sometimes even overreact, which can also be very harmful and even life-threatening.
In the General Newspaper he gives the Lübeck Disaster (in 1930) as an example. Then 251 newborn babies in the hospital were given a vaccine against tuberculosis, but the vaccine was contaminated with real tuberculosis bacteria: 77 children died, 127 became sick and healed, but 47 of them had no symptoms at all.
Response to infections
According to Poppe, this example taught researchers that people can all react differently to an infection. “Researchers later found this also in HIV: some people were susceptible, while others were almost resistant. A virus such as HIV uses proteins from the host to penetrate into cells. It has been found in HIV that in people who became less easily infectious a certain protein was less present,” Poppe told Algemeen Dagblad.
Genetic Research
In the future, according to the professor, it should be possible to determine the susceptibility to the coronavirus in a genetic profile. You should then be able to determine the ‘evolution’ of an infected patient with genetic research. This way you know who will experience few complaints and who can end up in intensive care. For the time being, scientists are just not that far yet and we must continue to protect ourselves and others.
We do know that some conditions or illnesses have an increased risk of complications from the coronavirus. General practitioner Bart Timmers explains in the video below which one it is. Click here to watch more videos from Dr Bart.
Read all about the coronavirus here.
Sources):
- ad.nl