Severe COVID-19 Infection via a Gene Variant

Abstract

Reportable COVID-19 infection rates vary radically from country to country. Remarkably, the reported rates in western Europe are more than an order of magnitude greater than in the tropics and sub-tropics. This suggests a common human genetic variant may be the primary culprit behind reportable COVID-19 infections. Of nearly 900,000 candidate culprit variants analyzed as part of the multi-layer screening effort described herein, only five survive. Those five candidate culprits belong to the HDAC6 and IRAK1 genes.

Note: Funding: None to declare

Declaration of Interest: None to declare

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Coronavirus, Genetic Variant, Genetic Variation, Genetic Testing