New Delhi: An international research consortium has discovered 28 new risk factors for COVID-19, pushing the total number of candidate genes identified by the initiative up to 51. The researchers noted that many criteria determine whether or not we get seriously ill from COVID-19. Besides our age and any previous or existing conditions, they also include genetic factors. “Knowing about genetic risk factors helps scientists to develop successful drugs and predict risks better,” said Kerstin Ludwig from the University Hospital Bonn, Germany.
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In order to identify genes of this kind, however, researchers need huge groups of patients, who are rarely all in the same place at the same time.
This was why the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative (COVID-19 HGI) was launched as a large-scale international project at the start of the pandemic. It aims to collate data from individual studies being set up all over the world and investigate it all together.
The latest findings covering 82 individual studies by COVID-19 HGI have been published in the journal Nature. The study features contributions from a total of 3,669 authors from across the globe.
The consortium is being co-led by the Broad Institute in the US and the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM).
Axel Schmidt, who was responsible for data analysis said,
The consortium has successfully identified 51 risk factors in all, 28 of which are new since the previous publication.
Ms Ludwig added,
We also coordinated collaboration with the other university hospitals in Germany that were contributing in order to get even more patients involved in the study.
The COVID-19 HGI published its initial results in the journal Nature in December 2021, adding its first update in August 2022.
The latest publication thus represents the second update and is expected to be the final part of the documentation.
Ms Ludwig added,
With 82 studies from 35 countries and over 200,000 participants in the largest subgroup, the data pool is the biggest to date.
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NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
