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According to a study conducted by a team of researchers in Europe, certain gene variants are related to severe coronavirus infections.
For the study, published in the journal Nature, the researchers carried out an analysis of 2,200 severely ill coronavirus patients. Their examination buttresses the fact that genetic makeup plays a pivotal role in the potentially fatal illness witnessed by some Covid-19 people.
The researchers believe that studying the role of genetic makeup will boost the response against Covid-19 and accelerate drug development.
“Our primary aim in this work is to find effective treatments,” said study author Kenneth Baillie, a University of Edinburgh clinical researcher, as cited in the Washington Post report.
The researchers identified eight spots on chromosomes — five of which have been kept aside for further extensive scrutiny as these were more common among people under intensive care.
Baillie added, “Looking across thousands of people, there are little variations in how much there is of each signal; these variations arise because of genetic differences between people. At this scale, we can see the effect of these variations, so we can directly predict the effect of drugs that hit the immune system in the same place.”
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