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The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals

Hugo Zeberg, Svante Pääbo

2020 · Nature

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kromem
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For the COVID bit there's been a number, but here's one: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3 Climate change modeled as killer of Neanderthals: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180829115529.h... Pandemic as killer: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/10/neanderthals... Cross cultural exchange: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/oct/13/neanderthals... A bit more on genetic mix with earlier hominids: https://apnews.com/article/neanderthals-denisovans-ancient-h... Hopefully a handful to whet your curiosity.
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GhettoComputers
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All those countries are small aside from China whose vaccine is not very effective and people with high East Asian ancestry have natural mutations against COVID. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3 You say vaccination or serious measure, which is the truth? Could a mutation not occur elsewhere and infect a densely populated area? There isn’t evidence that the places most affected were the origins of the virus mutations.
Original comment Pfizer's oral Covid-19 antiviral cuts hospitalization, death by 85%
rolph
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there is plenty of genetic evidence linking neanderthal genetic features to outcome of disease and genetic infirmity, as well as outcome of covid infection, primarily to do with interferon production and signaling, as well as receptor domains, these are heteroallelic as well, so strong neanderthal heritage with respect to population at large may provide a protective allele, or a predispositional allele. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/neanderthal-gene-fou... https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.11.422139v1 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3 https://www.news-medical.net/news/20201215/Neanderthal-gene-... https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2025501 https://www.pnas.org/content/118/9/e2026309118 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.11.422139v1
Original comment Comparing SARS-CoV-2 natural immunity to vaccine-induced immunity [pdf]
caveperson2102
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Your comment made me think of something, I'll share it as a "PSA" in case it helps someone stay safe. Neanderthal DNA has been linked to severe outcomes from COVID.[0] To me that means I'll get vaccinated (and strain specific boosters that may have to happen), full stop. But if I have a choice of more than one type of vaccine available at the same time (unlikely? But still), then I will try to keep this in mind. Other than that it just means I will be extra careful. Disclaimer: not a scientist; and anything I say here is first-person (I'm in the demographic groups I'm referring to). My non-scientific speculation: there is a chance the stuffy nose could be a proxy for high…
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neanderthal DNA. I say that because other sinus and nasal issues are among the things linked to genes inherited from Neanderthals. They had different anatomies in that regard. I've read it could have been an adaptation to cold. I've also read that the extinction of Neanderthals may have been related to viruses causing respiratory problems/diseases.[1] Anyways, the point is, that some of these genes could correlate with severe outcomes from coronavirus. If a reader knows their genetics, and/or knows people who have mentioned they have a relatively high amount of neanderthal DNA... You might want to think about it or mention it to them. Especially if they have other respiratory or sinus things going on. [0]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3 https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/neanderthal-gene-fou... [1]: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190919080755.h... ---- [btw I accidentally posted this comment to the wrong thread then moved it. Not trying to spam or rant, I'm just bad at commenting because I rarely comment. Anxiety and so on...]
Original comment Making Vaccine
_Microft
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From the abstract of the paper it sounds like the connection with blood groups was known already [0] and that they actually discovered the link to Neanderthals [1] which makes it understandable that they want to talk about Neanderthals. If someone prefers their papers as PDFs, there is also one available on the website (I for one hate the mess that these "web papers" are): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3.pdf [0] "A recent genetic association study identified a gene cluster on chromosome 3 as a risk locus for respiratory failure after infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A separate study (COVID-19 Host Genetics…
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Initiative)2 comprising 3,199 hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and control individuals showed that this cluster is the major genetic risk factor for severe symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization." [1] "Here we show that the risk is conferred by a genomic segment of around 50 kilobases in size that is inherited from Neanderthals and is carried by around 50% of people in south Asia and around 16% of people in Europe."
Original comment The major genetic risk factor for severe Covid-19 is inherited from Neanderthals

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