Less Severe Cases of COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa: Could Co-infection or a Recent History of Plasmodium falciparum Infection Be Protective?
Front Immunol
; 12: 565625, 2021.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1574690
ABSTRACT
Sub-Saharan Africa has generally experienced few cases and deaths of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition to other potential explanations for the few cases and deaths of COVID-19 such as the population socio-demographics, early lockdown measures and the possibility of under reporting, we hypothesize in this mini review that individuals with a recent history of malaria infection may be protected against infection or severe form of COVID-19. Given that both the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) merozoites bind to the cluster of differentiation 147 (CD147) immunoglobulin, we hypothesize that the immunological memory against P. falciparum merozoites primes SARS-CoV-2 infected cells for early phagocytosis, hence protecting individuals with a recent P. falciparum infection against COVID-19 infection or severity. This mini review therefore discusses the potential biological link between P. falciparum infection and COVID-19 infection or severity and further highlights the importance of CD147 immunoglobulin as an entry point for both SARS-CoV-2 and P. falciparum into host cells.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Plasmodium falciparum
/
Malaria, Falciparum
/
Basigin
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
Immunologic Memory
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
English
Journal:
Front Immunol
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Fimmu.2021.565625
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS