Genetics may save us from the Con

[malaise]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/this-gene-doubles-your-risk-of-severe-covid-19-says-study/ar-BB14BI2Z
<snip>
A large-scale study has found that a faulty gene linked to dementia doubles the risk of developing severe coronavirus. "Several studies have now shown that people with dementia are at high risk of developing severe COVID-19," said Professor David Melzer, who led the team out of the University of Exeter Medical School and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. "This study suggests that this high risk may not simply be due to the effects of dementia, advancing age or frailty, or exposure to the virus in care homes."

"It is not just age," he continued, "this is an example of a specific gene variant causing vulnerability in some people."
How did they discover what they discovered? "Researchers analyzed data from the UK Biobank, and found high risk of severe COVID-19 infection among European ancestry participants who carry two faulty copies of the APOE gene (termed e4e4)," reports the release from Exeter. "One in 36 people of European ancestry have two faulty copies of this gene, and this is known to increase risks of Alzheimer's disease up to 14-fold and also increases risks of heart disease."

"This is an exciting result because we might now be able to pinpoint how this faulty gene causes vulnerability to COVID-19," says co-author Dr. Chia-Ling Kuo, of the UConn School of Medicine. "This could lead to new ideas for treatments. It's also important because it shows again that increasing disease risks that appear inevitable with aging might actually be due to specific biological differences, which could help us understand why some people stay active to age 100 and beyond, while others become disabled and die in their sixties."

Melzer adds: "The effect could be partly due to this underlying genetic change, which puts them at risk for both COVID-19 and dementia."

[Miguelito Loveless]

1. At this point

I think it is obvious that even viruses have standards.

[malaise]

2. I hope not

[tanyev]

3. I'm thinking if he were going to get it, it would have already happened.

It's been swirling around him for weeks.

[malaise]

4. IN in in in in in

make it swirling around IN