Human evolutionary history impacts our COVID-19 risk

Posted July 5, 2022

One more COVID story, and then next month we promise to bring you something different.  Evolution underlies much research on SARS-CoV-2 so it keeps popping up in important and fascinating ways:

Since the beginning of the pandemic, scientists have wondered why SARS-CoV-2 affects people so differently. Some wind up on life support or die, while others don’t even notice they are infected. Most factors that tip this balance turned out to be more environmental than evolutionary. We now know that smoking, obesity, and conditions like cancer and diabetes can make COVID-19 more dangerous. Other research highlights how social inequalities and racial disparities contribute to higher infection, hospitalization, and death rates in some groups (e.g., Black and Hispanic Americans). However, studies have also revealed gene variants associated with increased risk, and one set of these has a deep evolutionary history among not just humans, but our ancient relatives: Neanderthals.

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