Have you been infected with COVID-19 and feel terrible? Maybe you’re a little Neanderthal.

More than three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, there are few people who have not yet been infected. Fortunately, thanks to vaccinesthe vast majority of patients transmit the virus this way quite soft, sometimes with almost no symptoms. But there are still people who suffer greatly from this disease. Some factors influencing this are obvious. Age and previous pathologies These are the two most important. However, according to a recent study, there is another, much less known factor: Neanderthal heritage.

It has long been known that having genes of Neanderthal origin can make us more prone to certain diseases, such as depression. This also appears to be related to alcoholism and with the shape it has the immune system fight against many infections.

Therefore, it is not strange that he also has relationship with COVID-19. In fact, the just published study was carried out at the beginning of the pandemic in the Italian region Lombardy, where there was a large concentration of serious cases at that key moment. The reasons were not clear, but it is now suspected that there may be a large Prevalence of Neanderthal DNA, With all the ensuing consequences. It would be necessary to analyze the genetic material of a large sample of the population; but until that’s done, it seems like a pretty good hypothesis.

The consequences of sex with Neanderthals

Neanderthals became extinct 40,000 years agoWith. He Homo sapiensthe human species appeared approximately 120,000 years. Thus, both hominids walked the Earth together. But they weren’t just walking. They did much more as there was more than enough evidence that they also became close. A lot of.

They have become so close that it is estimated that most people of non-African descent today still have 2% DNA of Neanderthal origin. We also owe them some pathogens sexual transmission, like the human papillomavirus. And, probably, there are people who have had a very hard time because of this Covid-19.

Haplotypes that complicate COVID-19 symptoms

Italy It was the first European country to record a large explosion of COVID-19 cases early in the pandemic. Several regions were particularly affected, and Lombardy was one of them. Not only were there many cases, but quite a large proportion had very serious symptoms and even required hospitalization.

It was initially thought that this might be due to decentralization of health care Italian, for which more and more people had to go to private clinics and hospitals. But there could be something more.

The authors of this study are from Institute of Pharmacological Research Mario Negri, analyzed the DNA of 10,000 patients with COVID-19 in the first wave of the city Bergamo. Thus, they noticed that a significant proportion of those who became seriously ill had haplotypes associated with Neanderthals.

Haplotypes are DNA variants located on the same chromosome that are usually inherited together. In this study, two haplotypes of Neanderthal origin were mainly observed and appeared to be associated with COVID-19 disease severity. One of them was associated with the expression CCR9 gene and another withl LZTFL1. Both genes are involved in the functioning of the immune system, and it is known that in many cases the severity of the disease is due to the extreme defense reaction. Therefore everything makes sense.

There may be a large dominance of these haplotypes in the Lombardy region. And it’s also possible that people who have been infected many times or who have had severe symptoms despite vaccinations have this Neanderthal inheritance. These love affairs between Neanderthals and humans continue to have consequences. We will not consider this, since we have all fallen in love with the wrong person, although the consequences did not last for thousands of years. This is also true.