Scientists have found out why some people suffer from COVID-19 more than others

Scientists have managed to find a connection between the genes of Neanderthals and the propensity to get sick on COVID-19 in modern humans. So the experts managed to establish that the genes of our ancient ancestors may be to blame for the propensity to get sick with coronavirus. In the genomes of residents of Italy and Spain, for example, they found places that indicate an increased likelihood of getting sick. One of these places is the Neanderthal segment in the 3rd human chromosome.

The study confirmed that the section of human DNA that infects the COVID-19 virus has been in the human body for a very long time. It was this area that modern people got from the Neanderthals 60 thousand years ago.

The fragment of the genome that the scientists discovered spans six genes on the third human chromosome. This part of the genome is common in Bangladesh, where 63% of the population has at least one copy. Also, almost a third of South Asians have inherited this segment. Elsewhere, it is less common – only 8% of Europeans and 4% of East Asians, in Africa it is almost absent.

Taking into account the data of this study, scientists were able to understand why some categories of people are especially prone to getting the virus or suffer the disease more seriously or with complex consequences. By this, scientists explain the fact that older people are more sensitive to COVID-19, and men become victims of the virus more often than women. And it also explains the fact that in the USA the disease affects in many cases black people, others less often.

Researchers were able to find in Italians and Spaniards two problem areas in the genome at once, which can be associated with their sensitivity to the disease. So the 9th chromosome, which determines the human blood group and the Neanderthal segment in chromosome 3 – these are the locations of these areas. If these two conditions are combined in a person, the coronavirus can often proceed in a severe form.

Scientists are confident that most of the genes of Neanderthals are harmful to modern humans. And the fact that even 60 thousand ice ago they left Africa, populating Europe, Asia, Australia, indicates that as a result of crossing Neanderthals, their DNA got into the gene pool that has survived to this day.