Helminth coinfection and COVID-19: An alternate hypothesis
Russell Hays, Doris R. Pierce, Paul Giacomin, Alex Loukas, Peter Bourke, Robyn McDermott
Abstract
In their recently published commentary, Bradbury and colleagues Helminth infections are known to be powerful modulators of the human immune response, and numerous studies now highlight the effects this may have on human infectious, inflammatory, and metabolic diseases. We believe, however, that any interaction between pre-existing helminth infection and the subsequent severity of COVID-19 need not necessarily be a negative one, and theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that helminths may indeed have a mitigating effect.
Topics & Concepts
Cytokine stormProinflammatory cytokineCoinfectionImmunologyHelminth infectionsDiseaseHelminthsPandemicMedicineEpidemiologyBiologyInflammationCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Infectious disease (medical specialty)VirusInternal medicineCOVID-19 Clinical Research StudiesSARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchCOVID-19 Impact on Reproduction