Two years after the start of the pandemic, Covid-19 remains a mysterious disease. There are those who overcome the virus as a simple flu and those who end up attached to the mechanical ventilator in intensive care. Researchers around the world are engaged in studying the factors that make the disease more severe and also the symptoms that remain in the cured patient, a condition known as Long Covid. RESEARCH ON VIRUS GRAVITY
A few steps forward have been made. In fact, there are some data that show how there is a genetic factor in the evolution of Covid. A group of researchers from Bialystok Medical University has identified a new bound gene with a higher risk of virus severity.
Reuters reported how the researchers identified the gene as the fourth most important factor in determining the severity of Covid-19, doubling the risk compared to other patients. The other three risk factors are age, weight and gender. THE “GUILTY” GENES The
University of Oxford has also published some discoveries on this subject. The gene is called LZTFL1, and it is poorly studied and duplicates the risk of respiratory failure for Covid-19. According to Business Insider, which took up the research of Professor Marcin Moniuszko , this gene is present in 9% of the European population; 60% of the population of South Asia and 27% of the population of India.
Other research published by Science Immunology argues that TLR7 could also be the key to the immune system’s response (positive or negative) against Covid-19. This gene is present in 20% of deaths caused by the virus. LONG COVID FACTORS
Other research investigates the factors that increase the predisposition to suffer from the symptoms of Long Covid after overcoming the virus, and the most effective treatments. “Asthma. Unhealthy intestinal bacteria. And the presence of autoimmune diseases, usually associated with autoimmune conditions. These are some of the risk factors for developing Long Covid, a condition with symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog and rapid heartbeat that persist months after an initial Covid-19 infection ”, The Wall Street Journal reads.
This research argues that patients with autoimmune diseases, for example, could be treated with existing treatments, such as the case of lupus. The fact that some people get very seriously ill, and others don’t, has led researchers to identify specific treatments, depending on the patient’s condition.
In research published in the journal Cell, experts identified four risk factors: “The most prevalent was the presence of certain autoantibodies, which are antibodies that mistakenly attack the body in autoimmune conditions such as lupus. Researchers found auto-antibodies in about 60% of patients who developed Long Covid ”. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HEALTHY INTESTINE
Another risk factor is the reactivated Epstein-Barr virus, the same one that causes mononucleosis. In some patients who have had Covid, this virus reactivates, causing Long Covid. Risk factors are also type 2 diabetes and the detection of genetic material from SARS-CoV-2 in the blood, which means that the virus has escaped the lungs and continues to spread to other parts and organs.
Finally, there is the intestine. Patients with a healthy, varied and abundant intestinal microbiome have a better chance of fighting Covid-19 and not suffering from Long Covid.
