Neanderthal gene increases COVID mortality

[guy]

It is estimated that the average European has more than 2% Neanderthal genes. One specific “Neanderthal gene” has been shown to have twice the mortality from COVID-19 infection.

 

(The red represents the percentage of the population that has the “Neanderthal gene” that doubles the risk of death from COVID—19.)

Here is a fascinating video about the increased risk of death from COVID-19 from having this Neanderthal gene.. This might partially explain the lower mortality rate for COVID-19 among Africans and some Asian populations (Japanese, for example).

Quote

 

”The LZTFL1 gene is a Neanderthal gene found on chromosome three. ‘The Times’ said the genetic tweak was the result of what “may have been the most disastrous one-night stand in the history of humanity”. It happened 60,000 years ago somewhere in the Middle East, when “two humans, slightly different in looks and stature, met and had sex”.

His team found that the gene changes how a cell behaves when the Sars-CoV-2 virus binds to the ACE2 receptor on a human cell, said The Telegraph. It means that cells in the lungs are slower to launch defences in response to infection.

Approximately 15% of Europeans have the Neanderthal form of the gene, and around 60% of South Asians do.

 

 

https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/957019/neanderthal-gene-caused-up-to-a-million-covid-deaths?amp

 

 

Here is a previous thread about the surprising prevalence of the Neanderthal gene, especially among Europeans.

 

 

Edited June 10, 2022 by guy

[caldrail]

Now this raises all sorts of ideas. Was the Neanderthal decline the result of disease? If so, was it the spread of Cro-Magnon that brought disease to the more static Neanderthal populations?