TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Although we have not found a bright spot, various recent studies have shown the development of treatment corona virus. One of them comes from research initiated by a professor at Duke University in the United States, Miguel Nicolelis.
Through exclusive interviews together Reuters, Nicolelis said that he had found a link between the spread of the virus and the outbreak dengue fever in the past. Meanwhile, exposure to mosquito-borne diseases is believed to provide immunity to Covid-19.
Initially, Nicolelis and his team compared the geographic distribution of coronavirus cases with the spread of dengue fever in 2019 and 2020. It seems clear that places with a low growth of cases and a low rate of coronavirus infection are locations that have suffered from a severe dengue outbreak in 2020.
“These striking findings raise the interesting possibility of the immunological cross-reactivity between the Dengue Fever Flavivirus serotype and the novel coronavirus. If proven correct, this hypothesis could mean dengue infection or immunization with a potent and safe dengue vaccine could produce some level of immunological protection against the coronavirus, ”said the study.
Nicolelis also said the results were very interesting because previous studies had shown that people with dengue fever antibodies in their blood could test positive for Covid-19 antibodies. That also happened even though they had never been infected by the corona virus.
“This suggests there is an immunological interaction between the two viruses that no one can predict because the two viruses come from completely different families,” said Nicolelis, adding that further research was needed to prove the relationship.
The study also highlighted the significant correlation between the incidence, mortality and lower growth rates of Covid-19 in the population in Brazil, where the levels of antibodies to dengue fever are higher. Brazil itself has the third highest total of Covid-19 infections in the world with more than 4.4 million cases.
“In states such as Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Minas Gerais, with high incidence of dengue fever last year and earlier this year, Covid-19 is taking longer to reach community transmission rates that are high. higher compared to states like Amapá, Maranhão and Pará which have fewer cases of dengue fever, ”he said.
The team found a similar link between the dengue outbreak and its spread Covid-19 in Latin America, Asia, the islands of the Pacific, and the Indian Ocean.
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