Have you ever considered that maybe the reason covid-19 affects people so differently could be due to their personal genetic makeup? Researchers have been looking into this hypothesis, and have found patterns of certain genes being responsible for severe cases of the disease. Another thing that could affect the severity could be your blood type, according to researchers. In a study done in Spain and Italy, researchers found subtle common similarities between those patients who developed respiratory failure. That similarity was that they had "variants in a complex of genes on chromosome 3." These genes are often used to encode proteins (chemokines), and these proteins interact with the immune system molecules. This all makes sense seeing that the immune system is mostly responsible for how well you handle covid-19. One problem with these statements however, is that the genes being used and studied are based on biased data sets, only using the research from this small trial. However, I do think that this could be the reason that the illness is so feared. We can conclude that it affects those of older age, and with previous health conditions worse than those without, but there are some instances where it aggressively attacks a healthy, young person. Why would this be? Maybe it is because of their genes.
I've actually always wondered why people from various ages are all affected differently by COVID-19. I found this to be very interesting and something to think about because it would be cool if doctors were able to "investigate" a person's own genes to determine a treatment plan so their body is more equipped to fight off whatever sickness that person may have.
ReplyDeleteI like this post because it is really important to what is happening around us, being in a pandemic. I found this very scary actually because if you were a healthy person who never gets sick and you all of a sudden get covid-19, it damages you in the long run. I watched a video about this D1 athlete, obviously very healthy, who got covid-19 and even after she was cured, still had shortness of breath and had to use an inhaler. It struck me because it could just be her genes that have caused her to get covid-19 in the first place and this is very frightening to any young healthy person. Basically any of us could get it and not even know that out genetic make up could be the reason why.
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