As reported on Express, a study made by researchers at King’s College London got close to understanding the inconsistencies of the COV ID-19 symptoms in patients infected with the coronavirus. Genetic factors might be the key.
Last month, the team launched the COVID-19 Symptom Tracker app. Analyzing the data collected by the app from 2.7 million users, the team used AI to investigate the symptoms and find patterns. The main interest in the research were twin brothers, both identical and non-identical. The app collected data from 2600 twins of both kinds.
“This disease is very weird, the way it has a very different presentation in the population in different people – what we are showing is that it isn’t random,” said Professor Tim Spector, one of the leading scientists.
The investigation revealed that the similarities in patterns are strongly connected to genetics. Up to 50% of the differences between people’s symptoms proved to be related to genetic makeup. Fever, diarrhea, delirium, and losses of taste and smell are influenced by it, while cough or chest pain isn’t.
The results of the study on how genetic factors influence the COVID-19 symptoms
The outcome of the research could prove to be the explanation of why some people experience acute symptoms while others experience none. More so, medicine could develop using these results by identifying the groups of people that are more at risk.
It could also be used to better allocate healthcare resources.
The most exposed group now is the people living in care homes where mortality has increased by 70% in the past weeks.
After recovering from COVID-19 infection, Prime Minister Boris Johnson made his first public appearance and urged people to trust the government’s choice to trusts science, as well as to hold their anxiety and continue to maintain social distancing measures for concern of “the risk of a second spike” which would lead to an unprecedented level of virus spread and death, as well as an irreparable “economic disaster.”
“I know how hard and how stressful it has been to give up, even temporarily, those ancient and basic freedoms – not seeing friends, not seeing loved ones, working from home, managing the kids, worrying about your job and your firm,” said the Prime Minister.
