Helminth coinfection and COVID-19: An alternate hypothesis

• Published in: PLoS neglected tropical diseases 2020-08, Vol.14 (8), p.e0008628-e0008628
• Main Authors: Hays, Russell, Pierce, Doris, Giacomin, Paul, Loukas, Alex, Bourke, Peter, McDermott, Robyn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Australia; Betacoronavirus; Bioinformatics; Biology; Biology and Life Sciences; Care and treatment; Coinfection; Comorbidity; Complications and side effects; Coronavirus Infections; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Cytokines; Developed countries; Development and progression; Diabetes; Disease; Epidemics; Fatalities; Helminthiasis; Helminths; Humans; Hypotheses; Infections; Inflammation; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Metabolic disorders; Metabolic syndrome; Molecular biology; Mortality; Obesity; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral; Prognosis; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Tropical climate; Tropical diseases; Tropical environment; Viewpoints; Viral diseases; Viral infections
• ISSN: 1935-2735; 1935-2727; 1935-2735
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008628

About the Authors: Russell Hays * E-mail: [e-mail] Affiliation: Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Smithfield, Australia ORCID logo http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7492-0123 Doris Pierce Affiliation: Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, McGregor Road, Smithfield, Australia ORCID logo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4593-1218 Paul Giacomin Affiliation: Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Smithfield, Australia ORCID logo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6326-6792 Alex Loukas Affiliation: Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia ORCID logo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0896-8441 Peter Bourke Affiliations Cairns Hospital, Cairns, Australia, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia ORCID logo http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7756-6481 Robyn McDermott Affiliation: Division of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia Citation: Hays R, Pierce D, Giacomin P, Loukas A, Bourke P, McDermott R (2020) Helminth coinfection and COVID-19: An alternate hypothesis. The pandemic has been most active in developed countries where helminth infection is rare, and the data coming from less-developed societies may be difficult to interpret given the early phase of the pandemic, the lack of extensive testing, unreliable information regarding case fatality rates and cause of death, and their generally younger populations with lower prevalence of metabolic disease and obesity. The numbers currently emerging from the WHO do not indicate a widespread increase in case fatality rates in the developing world, with the number of reported deaths being generally low.