Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa has generally experienced few cases and deaths of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition to other potential explanations for the few cases and deaths of COVID-19 such as the population socio-demographics, early lockdown measures and the possibility of under reporting, we hypothesize in this mini review that individuals with a recent history of malaria infection may be protected against infection or severe form of COVID-19. Given that both the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) merozoites bind to the cluster of differentiation 147 (CD147) immunoglobulin, we hypothesize that the immunological memory against P. falciparum merozoites primes SARS-CoV-2 infected cells for early phagocytosis, hence protecting individuals with a recent P. falciparum infection against COVID-19 infection or severity. This mini review therefore discusses the potential biological link between P. falciparum infection and COVID-19 infection or severity and further highlights the importance of CD147 immunoglobulin as an entry point for both SARS-CoV-2 and P. falciparum into host cells.
Highlights
The corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread and ravage the world with more than 79,673,754 confirmed cases including 1,761,381 confirmed deaths as of 28th December, 2020 [1]
It has been hypothesized that induction of interferons and neutralizing antibodies due to chronic infection by P. falciparum may contribute to natural immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in P. falciparum endemic areas [15]
The cluster of differentiation 147 (CD147) may as well-need attention as an entry route for both SARS-CoV-2 and P. falciparum into host cells
Summary
The corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread and ravage the world with more than 79,673,754 confirmed cases including 1,761,381 confirmed deaths as of 28th December, 2020 [1]. Within Africa, the Central, Western and Eastern parts of Africa further stand out to be least affected regions (1,463 reported deaths and 67,026 recoveries out of 73,317 reported cases; 3,187 reported deaths and 214,701 recoveries out of 239,216 reported cases; and 5,917 reported deaths and 250,296 recoveries out of 319,156 reported cases, respectively), as compared to the Northern (23,766 reported deaths and 757,828 recoveries out of 911,486 reported cases) and Southern (29,011 reported deaths and 949,172 recoveries out of 1,134,497 reported cases) parts of Africa as of 29th December, 2020 [8] Factors such as extent of testing and patient demographics may be responsible for the observed regional differences in the effect of the COVID19 pandemic, the Central, Western and Eastern parts of Africa conspicuously stand out as regions most affected by malaria globally. We further discuss the importance of CD147 as an entry route for both SARS-CoV-2 and P. falciparum into host cells
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