From having an underlying health condition to being obese, a number of risk factors have been shown to increase your risk of coronavirus.
Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology claim that people with Neanderthal genes are also at higher risk of developing severe Covid-19.
In the study, the team analysed a gene cluster on chromosome 3, and found that people with a certain version of this gene cluster were three times more likely to have severe Covid-19.
A further analysis revealed that this version is very similar to the DNA sequences of 50,000-year-old Neanderthals from Croatia.
Hugo Zeberg, who led the study, said: “It turns out that this gene variant was inherited by modern humans from the Neandertals when they interbred some 60,000 years ago.
“Today, the people who inherited this gene variant are three times more likely to need artificial ventilation if they are infected by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.”
The study also revealed considerable differences in how common this genetic risk variant is in different parts of the world.
According to the researchers, it’s particularly common among people in South Asia, while in Europe around one in six carry the risk variant.
Meanwhile, the risk variant is almost non-existent in Africa and East Asia.
Svant Paabo, director of the the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, said: “It is striking that the genetic heritage from the Neandertals has such tragic consequences during the current pandemic.
“Why this is must now be investigated as quickly as possible.”
