Amsterdammers of Turkish, Surinamese or Moroccan descent have not been infected with the corona virus more often than Amsterdammers of Dutch descent. The Amsterdam UMC, the GGD Amsterdam and the expertise center Pharos have now looked at the presence of antibodies in the blood of 2500 Amsterdammers of different backgrounds.
The percentage of infections was only higher among Ghanaians. The research does not answer the question whether non-Western migrants more often become seriously ill from the corona virus.
The people who were examined participate in the so-called HELIUS project, explains professor of public health at the Amsterdam UMC Karien Stronks. This is a long-term health survey among 25,000 Amsterdammers of Surinamese, Turkish, Moroccan, Ghanaian and Dutch descent.
Various studies
This is one of the first studies into the health effects of the coronavirus in different population groups. Earlier, an analysis of the mortality rates by the CBS that there is a slight overrepresentation among migrants in the Netherlands.
The research that has now been published says nothing about the disease course in humans. It ran through the beginning of October and included the first and the beginning of the second wave of corona infections.
In an earlier study in June, the Amsterdam GGD found that non-Western migrants more often end up in hospital with covid-19. They included a remarkable number of Ghanaians. In order to determine why this is, further research is needed, thinks Maria Prins, professor and head of infection research and prevention at the GGD in Amsterdam.
In people of Turkish, Moroccan or Surinamese descent, the percentage of antibodies against the coronavirus in the blood is comparable to people of Dutch descent: about 5 to 7 percent. But about 25 percent of Ghanaians have antibodies against the virus.
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