2020.10.15 07:21
Editor’s Note: This article was published on June 17, 2020, at NEJM.org.
List of authors.
There is considerable variation in disease behavior among patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Genomewide association analysis may allow for the identification of potential genetic factors involved in the development of Covid-19.
We conducted a genomewide association study involving 1980 patients with Covid-19 and severe disease (defined as respiratory failure) at seven hospitals in the Italian and Spanish epicenters of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Europe. After quality control and the exclusion of population outliers, 835 patients and 1255 control participants from Italy and 775 patients and 950 control participants from Spain were included in the final analysis. In total, we analyzed 8,582,968 single-nucleotide polymorphisms and conducted a meta-analysis of the two case–control panels.
We detected cross-replicating associations with rs11385942 at locus 3p21.31 and with rs657152 at locus 9q34.2, which were significant at the genomewide level (P<5×10−8) in the meta-analysis of the two case–control panels (odds ratio, 1.77; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.48 to 2.11; P=1.15×10−10; and odds ratio, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.20 to 1.47; P=4.95×10−8, respectively). At locus 3p21.31, the association signal spanned the genes SLC6A20, LZTFL1, CCR9, FYCO1, CXCR6 and XCR1. The association signal at locus 9q34.2 coincided with the ABO blood group locus; in this cohort, a blood-group–specific analysis showed a higher risk in blood group A than in other blood groups (odds ratio, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.20 to 1.75; P=1.48×10−4) and a protective effect in blood group O as compared with other blood groups (odds ratio, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.79; P=1.06×10−5).
We identified a 3p21.31 gene cluster as a genetic susceptibility locus in patients with Covid-19 with respiratory failure and confirmed a potential involvement of the ABO blood-group system. (Funded by Stein Erik Hagen and others.)
2020.10.15 07:25
2020.10.15 07:31
2020.10.15 07:42
This article puts the above genetics informations in regard to COVID19 up to now
into a proper perspective, I believe.
2020.10.15 09:06
The surging virus(NYTimes today 10/15/20) |
The autumn wave of the coronavirus has reached a dangerous new stage. The number of new daily cases has risen almost 50 percent in the U.S. over the past month. The situation is even worse in Europe. |
For the first time since late March, the per capita number of new cases in Europe exceeds the number in the U.S.: |
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“The virus is everywhere in France,” the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said yesterday, while imposing a nighttime curfew in major cities. |
The onset of cooler weather, which is driving more people indoors, seems to be playing a big role. And many people seem to have grown tired of pandemic restrictions, leading politicians — in both Europe and the U.S. — to lift restrictions prematurely. |
In late June, as The Times’s Mark Landler writes from Europe, residents in Prague held a dinner party stretching across the Charles Bridge to celebrate what they called — wrongly — the end of the outbreak. Italy and Spain welcomed summer tourists. |
But the pandemic hasn’t gone away. While treatments are getting better, many people are still dying — including almost 6,000 in India over the past week, 5,000 in the U.S., 1,700 in Iran, 850 in Spain and about 600 in both Britain and France. A widely available vaccine is still months away, even if the current research trials go well. |
Amid all of this bad news, it’s worth keeping in mind that some countries continue to fight the virus successfully. The per capita rate of new cases in Canada is less than half as high as it is in the U.S. In Australia and much of Africa and Asia, the rate remains near zero. |
In many places where case counts are rising, political leaders are reluctant to impose new lockdowns, because the public is tired of them. But that creates something of a Catch-22: The most reliable way to reverse big outbreaks of this virus has been through strict crackdowns. |
In the U.S.: The virus is spreading in every region, with the highest case counts in the South and Midwest, as you can see in these charts. |
2020.10.15 10:07
Very informative, Dr. Lee, thanks for the time to dig out all these updated findings!
After all, whole things matter with the genes. Hopefully the Asian genes could give more chance to fight effectively!
Keep it on!
BB Lee
P.S. As my compliments, I would like to share very nasty(?) recommendation on how to deal with the people with no mask- I complained to him that I encounter so many people with no mask, huffing and puffing, through the walking trail behind my house- I got from one of the most polite surgeons I met among so many Canadian friends, living in Vancouver. He suggested me to take away my mask when someone approaching to me with no mask, and make a big coughing and sneezing as explosive as possible and further blow the nose in Chinese way (he said he learned the technic from many Chinese immigrants practising every day) if I know how to do, using no touch technique.
2020.10.15 10:25
Thank you for the tip. It is funny too.
It is similar to my way.
I always carry my kerchief in my pocket and
take it out and blow my nose covering my face.
They all stay away from me definitely longer than 6 feet away.
2020.10.15 10:48
That is excellent method to keep the people away from me! I am gonna use this trick right away.
Thanks,
BB Lee
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