RIO DE JANEIRO: A brand new research that analyzed the coronavirus outbreak in Brazil has discovered a hyperlink between the unfold of the virus and previous outbreaks of dengue fever that means publicity to the mosquito-transmitted sickness might present some degree of immunity towards COVID-19.
The not but revealed research led by Miguel Nicolelis, a professor at Duke College, and shared solely with Reuters, in contrast the geographic distribution of coronavirus instances with the unfold of dengue in 2019 and 2020.
Locations with decrease coronavirus an infection charges and slower case progress have been places that had suffered intense dengue outbreaks this 12 months or final, Nicolelis discovered.
“This placing discovering raises the intriguing chance of an immunological cross-reactivity between dengue’s Flavivirus serotypes and SARS-CoV-2,” the research stated, referring to dengue virus antibodies and the novel coronavirus.
“If confirmed right, this speculation may imply that dengue an infection or immunization with an efficacious and secure dengue vaccine may produce some degree of immunological safety” towards the coronavirus, it added.
Nicolelis instructed Reuters the outcomes are notably attention-grabbing as a result of earlier research have proven that individuals with dengue antibodies of their blood can check falsely optimistic for COVID-19 antibodies even when they’ve by no means been contaminated by the coronavirus.
“This means that there’s an immunological interplay between two viruses that no one may have anticipated, as a result of the 2 viruses are from utterly totally different households,” Nicolelis stated, including that additional research are wanted to show the connection.
The research was being revealed forward of peer overview on the MedRxiv preprint server and might be submitted to a scientific journal.
It highlights a major correlation between decrease incidence, mortality and progress charge of COVID-19 in populations in Brazil the place the degrees of antibodies to dengue have been larger.
Brazil has the world’s third highest complete of COVID-19 infections with greater than 4.Four million instances – behind solely the USA and India.
In states corresponding to Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul and Minas Gerais, with a excessive incidence of dengue final 12 months and early this 12 months, COVID-19 took for much longer to achieve a degree of excessive neighborhood transmission in comparison with states corresponding to Amapá, Maranhão and Pará that had fewer dengue instances.
The workforce discovered the same relationship between dengue outbreaks and a slower unfold of COVID-19 in different elements of Latin America, in addition to Asia and islands within the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Nicolelis stated his workforce got here throughout the dengue discovery accidentally, throughout a research targeted on how COVID-19 had unfold by means of Brazil, through which they discovered that highways performed a significant function within the distribution of instances throughout the nation.
After figuring out sure case-free spots on the map, the workforce went looking for attainable explanations. A breakthrough got here when the workforce in contrast the unfold of dengue with that of the coronavirus.
“It was a shock. It was a complete accident,” Nicolelis stated. “In science, that occurs, you are taking pictures at one factor and also you hit a goal that you simply by no means imagined you’d hit.”
This story has been revealed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content. Solely the headline has been modified.
