High Altitude Dwellers May Be Less Susceptible To Coronavirus
As part of this study, numbers from high-altitude regions, specifically Tibet, Bolivia, and Ecuador, regarding infection rate and total reported cases were compared to regions that were much lower. It turns out that populations living above 9,842 feet (3,000 meters) were reporting much lower numbers, in some cases three to four times less, when it came to infections or rate of spread. But, what are the reasons for this?
Simply put, the two main reasons that a virus like COVID-19 doesn't work as well at altitudes such as those studied is that the people there are accustomed to living there and the virus is not.
To that point, that is perhaps why the people in these high mountain communities have not only not been spreading the virus as quickly as those of us in the valley, but why they might recover easier. Those who live in those communities are already acclimated to those conditions, specifically that lack of oxygen the body takes in when up that high. For example, one of the COVID-19 symptoms is hypoxia or a deficiency of oxygen in the body. As these folks have already become tolerant to such a condition, it may help the body fight the virus on that level.
This kind of evidence could also bring about ways to help fight the infection. An example of this would be to have a person with COVID-19 undergo a treatment that mimics high-altitude living.
An interesting study, perhaps those of us that like to play in the mountains now have an even more practical reason to move to a high-altitude mountain town. That new home might help ward off illness and skiing and snowboarding could be amazing. It could also be said that maybe some of us now have a choice as to which we would rather face...acute mountain sickness (altitude sickness) or a virus similar to COVID-19.
If you would like more information or would like to see the entire report from the study, including more technical date and date representations, please follow the link below.
Does the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 virus decrease at high-altitude?
COVID-19 infection is decreased in populations living at an altitude of above 3000 masl. * Highland inhabitants may be less susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection due to physiological acclimatization to hypoxia. * High-altitude environmental factors may contribute to reduce the virulence of SARS-CoV-2.
Photo: The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet - Credit: PXHere
Comments
Post a Comment