(Taiwan English News / Zhu Mingzhu Comprehensive Foreign News Report) ByNational Institutes of Health (NIH)A funded study found that people with food allergies have a lower risk of contracting Covid-19 than the general population, while obese people have higher rates. The researchers also mentioned that although the infection rate of children is not higher than that of adults, once infected, they may become powerful new crown spreaders in the home.
From May 2020 to February 2021, the HEROS research team monitored the health status of nearly 1,400 families and more than 4,000 members in 12 cities in the United States, and each family had at least one person under the age of 21. About half of the members have food allergies, asthma, eczema and allergic rhinitis and other allergic diseases.
From the monitoring for more than half a year, it is found that the risk of contracting new coronary pneumonia in people with food allergies is low. The researchers speculate that the reason may be that allergic diseases lead to the reduction of the amount of ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 of human cells) receptors in human cells. , thus limiting the ability of COVID to invade cells, making the body less susceptible to infection by exposure to the virus.
However, other allergic diseases such as asthma, eczema, and allergic rhinitis were not significantly associated with the risk of infection.
In addition, the researchers mentioned that obesity will increase the risk of infection. When the body mass index (BMI) increases by 10%, the probability of contracting the new crown will increase by 9%, and the risk of infection in overweight or obese patients is 41% higher than that of the general population.
As for the risk of infection in all age groups, the infection rate of children under 12, adolescents or adults is regarding 14%, but the asymptomatic infection rate of children is as high as 75%. It is easy to have close physical contact, which may become a powerful new crown spreader at home, causing family cluster infection.
The researchers concluded by stressing that vaccination remains the best way to prevent infection and severe illness. The study was published June 1 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
