It is not just the pre-existing conditions that can increase the risk of developing severe COVID. According to a new study, a factor detectable only in your blood may be the key to determining how debilitating your COVID symptoms become. Read on to find out what may be putting you at risk for a serious COVID case. And if you’re anxious for the pandemic to end, COVID will be “practically gone” by this date, says the Johns Hopkins doctor.
According to a January 2021 study published in the journal Genetics in Medicine, individuals without a certain type of natural killer cell receptor (NK) in their blood are more likely to develop severe cases of COVID than those who have them. When the specific NKG2C receptor identified by the researchers – which normally binds to the HLA-E antigen in the bloodstream to destroy cells that have been infected by viruses – is missing, the risk of a person developing severe COVID increases significantly.
The study found that approximately four percent of the population does not have the NKG2C receptor entirely, while 30 percent have an NKG2C receptor that is not fully available and, as such, may provide inadequate protection when fighting COVID.
“The absence of the receptor was particularly prevalent in COVID-19 patients being treated in intensive care units, regardless of age or sex,” Elisabeth Puchhammer-Stöckl, MD, the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “Genetic variations in the infected cell’s HLA-E have also been associated with disease severity, albeit to a lesser extent.”
However, this is not the only thing that can increase or decrease your likelihood of having a serious case of COVID; Read on to find out what other factors may be putting you at risk. And for more information on your risk, check If you’ve done this recently, you are 70 percent more likely to get COVID.
Read the original article at Better life.