Reporting on the disproportional response of ethnic groups to covid-19 invariably includes something to the effect of 'this disparity is not due to genetic differences.' I agree with the pundits that socieo-economic factors are the major cause of concern and should be addressed politically. I believe it is scientifically shortsighted if not socially irresponsible, however, to imply that genetic variation does not contribute to individual variation in response to the virus. A more truthful statement is that there is no evidence to date of genetic factors. And there won't be such evidence until a relatively late stage of the pandemic. Only when we have clinical data coupled with whole genome scans of thousands of individuals will we be able to parse specific genes and variation in those genes that may underlie why all exposed individuals aren't infected or why some individuals are so much more severely affected than others.
Host response to almost every viral disease known to medicine is at least partially genetically conditioned. The well-known deletion in the CCR5 gene and response to HIV is a classic example. It is pretty naive to think that covid-19 will be different from the large number of pathogens known to affect individuals (lab animals and humans) differently, based on specific variants in their genomes. Even though such knowledge necessarily comes too late in a pandemic to be a useful tool in response to early waves of infection, the identification of specific genes in the host that are involved in pathogenesis can instruct the development of therapeutics or vaccines for later waves or pandemic relapse.
Having begun with a reference to ethnicity, I should conclude that genomic variants that predispose susceptibility or resistance to a specific pathogen are rarely, if ever, exclusive to individuals of a specific geographic ancestry.
Host response to almost every viral disease known to medicine is at least partially genetically conditioned. The well-known deletion in the CCR5 gene and response to HIV is a classic example. It is pretty naive to think that covid-19 will be different from the large number of pathogens known to affect individuals (lab animals and humans) differently, based on specific variants in their genomes. Even though such knowledge necessarily comes too late in a pandemic to be a useful tool in response to early waves of infection, the identification of specific genes in the host that are involved in pathogenesis can instruct the development of therapeutics or vaccines for later waves or pandemic relapse.
Having begun with a reference to ethnicity, I should conclude that genomic variants that predispose susceptibility or resistance to a specific pathogen are rarely, if ever, exclusive to individuals of a specific geographic ancestry.