African or African American? That is the question. The Duffy antigen and the Chemokine Storm in Covid-19

Carlos Rodriguez

doi:10.32388/adihq5.2

Abstract

African Americans have been heavily hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The reasons for the specially severe forms of the disease in Black Americans have not been fully uncovered. I present here a hypothesis that arguably gives the blood group marker and chemokine decoy receptor Duffy protein a central role in quenching the Chemokine Storm as present in the severe forms of the COVID-19 disease.

Highlights

Among the many facts that the pandemic had brought to the surface, one has touched me especially: Black people in America (North and South alike) are massively overrepresented in the coronavirus death statistics[1]
In sharp contrast to this, Black people living in Africa seem to be "protected" from the virus
T o summarize, I really believe that black people living for generations in the New Continent have kept gene alleles that, besides not being anymore protective against parasite diseases that are almost absent in most of the American Continent, in addition, can represent a heavy ballast when facing the worst complications of the Covid-19 disease

Summary

Introduction

Among the many facts that the pandemic had brought to the surface, one has touched me especially: Black people in America (North and South alike) are massively overrepresented in the coronavirus death statistics[1]. In Black People, this phenotype silences the gene in erythrocytes (something like the O group, that is defined by the absence of A and B proteins).

Results

Conclusion