Having this in your blood could protect you against serious COVID

While masking, social distancing, and getting vaccinated as early as possible are all good ways to lower your risk of catching COVID, new research suggests there is another factor that may lower your risk of developing symptoms. most serious cases of COVID. According to a study by researchers at the University of Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, which will be published in the March 2021 volume of PNAS, a particular DNA marker can protect a person from a case of COVID that deserves hospitalization. Read on to find out what the researchers found and how it might affect you. And if you want to protect yourself, Dr Fauci says it’s one of the worst things you can do right now.

In the Okinawa study, researchers found that a particular group of Neanderthal genes – particularly those affecting chromosome 12 – that still exist in individuals today can help reduce a person’s risk of have a case of COVID that requires 22 percent intensive care treatment.

“Although Neanderthals died out around 40,000 years ago, their immune systems still influence us positively and negatively today,” said the geneticist and co-author of the study. Svante Pääbo, PhD, in a press release. And for the latest COVID news, sign up for our daily newsletter.

The study’s authors found that the particular genetic variant transmitted by Neanderthal DNA was able to reduce the severity of COVID through a specific mechanism. This particular genetic factor – which was identified in three Neanderthals between the ages of 50,000 and 120,000 – stimulates the production of virus-fighting enzymes in the human body.

“It appears that the enzymes encoded by the Neanderthal variant are more effective, reducing the risk of serious consequences from SARS-CoV-2 infections,” Pääbo said.
And if you want to stay safe when you’re not at home, the CDC just issued a warning about this type of face mask.

Researchers in the study found that the genetic variant is prevalent across much of the world. “It is present in populations of Eurasia and the Americas at carrier frequencies that reach and often exceed 50 percent,” according to the PNAS to study. In Japan alone, about 30 percent of people carry the genetic trait, while the study researchers found it “almost completely absent” in sub-Saharan Africa. And if you have your appointment for a vaccine, the CDC warns you not to do so right before you get the vaccine.

While the identified Neanderthal DNA variant may offer some protection to those who have it, it will not necessarily negate other risk factors for developing severe COVID.

“Of course, other factors such as advanced age or underlying conditions such as diabetes have a significant impact on the degree of illness of an infected individual,” Pääbo explained.