Studying C-reactive protein and D-dimer levels in blood may prevent severe complications in Bangladeshi COVID-19 patients (preprint)

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been a scientific, medical and social challenge. Since clinical course of this disease is largely unpredictable and can develop rapidly causing severe complications, it is important to identify laboratory biomarkers which may help to classify patient’s severity during initial stage. Previous studies have suggested C - reactive protein (inflammatory) and D-dimer (biochemical) as an effective biomarker. The differential severity in patients across the world and our limited understanding in the progression of the disease calls for a multi-country analysis for biomarkers. Therefore, we have analyzed these biomarkers among 228 Bangladeshi COVID-19 patients. We show significant association of COVID-19 severity with these two biomarkers. Thus, we suggest using these biomarkers for Bangladeshi COVID-19 patients for disease monitoring. Such validated preventive measures may decrease the case fatality ratio substantially.

The Major Genetic Risk Factor for Severe COVID-19 Does Not Show Any Association Among Indian Populations (preprint)

With the growing evidence on the variable human susceptibility against COVID-19, it is evident that some genetic loci modulate the severity of the infection. Recent studies have identified several loci associated with greater severity. More recently, a study has identified a 50kb segment introgressed from Neanderthal adding a risk for COVID-19, and this trait is present among 16% and 50% people of European and South Asian origin respectively. Contrary to this finding, our studies on ACE2 identified a haplotype present among 20% and 60% of European and South Asian populations respectively, which appears to be responsible for the low case fatality ratio among South Asian populations. This result was also consistent with the realtime infection rate and case fatality ratio among various states of India. We readdressed this issue using both of the contrasting datasets and compared them with the realtime infection rates and case fatality ratio in India. We found out that the polymorphism present in the 50kb introgressed segment (rs10490770) did not show any significant correlation with the realtime infection and case fatality ratio in India.

The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 among Europeans does not show any association among Indian populations (preprint)

With the growing evidence on the variable human susceptibility against COVID-19, it is clear that there are some genetic loci modulating the severity. Recent studies have identified several loci associated with the higher severity. More recently, a study has identified 50kb segment introgressed from Neanderthal adding risk for COVID-19, and is  present among 16% and 50% people of European and South Asian origin respectively. Contrary to that, our studies on ACE2 identified a haplotype present among 20% and 60% of European and South Asian populations respectively, was probably responsible for the low case fatality ratio among South Asian populations. This result was also consistent with the realtime infection rate and case fatality ratio among various states of India. We readdressed this issue using both of the contrasting datasets and compared them with the realtime infection rates and case fatality ratio in India. We found out that that the polymorphism present in 50kb introgressed segment (rs10490770) did not show any significant correlation with the realtime infection and case fatality ratio in India.With the growing evidence on the variable human susceptibility against COVID-19, it is clear that there are some genetic loci modulating the severity. Recent studies have identified several loci associated with the higher severity. More recently, a study has identified 50kb segment introgressed from Neanderthal adding risk for COVID-19, and is  present among 16% and 50% people of European and South Asian origin respectively. Contrary to that, our studies on ACE2 identified a haplotype present among 20% and 60% of European and South Asian populations respectively, was probably responsible for the low case fatality ratio among South Asian populations. This result was also consistent with the realtime infection rate and case fatality ratio among various states of India. We readdressed this issue using both of the contrasting datasets and compared them with the realtime infection rates and case fatality ratio in India. We found out that that the polymorphism present in 50kb introgressed segment (rs10490770) did not show any significant correlation with the realtime infection and case fatality ratio in India.