People who have had Dengue fever previously there is double the risk of developing symptoms of Covid-19 if they are infected with the coronavirus. The result is a study carried out by researchers from the ICB-USP (Institute of Biomedical Sciences at the University of São Paulo) that was recently published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
During the study, the group analyzed blood samples from 1,285 residents of the city of Mâncio Lima, Acre. 37% of these cases were diagnosed with dengue fever between September and October 2019.
In the following year, 35.2% developed antibodies from contact with the virus that caused Covid-1
9 and 57.1% reported symptoms during the infection.
The researchers first wanted to find out whether a previous infection with the dengue virus could guarantee the population a certain level of cross-protection with respect to the coronavirus. However, the result was just the opposite.
“Contrary to the cross-protection hypothesis, earlier DENV infection [vírus da dengue] was associated with twice the risk of clinically obvious Covid-19 following SARS-CoV-2 infection, “the authors write.
Research coordinator Marcelo Urbano Ferreira highlighted the simultaneous occurrence of dengue and Covid-19 epidemics in some places in Brazil.
“These data suggest that there is an interaction between the dengue and Covid-19 epidemics that exacerbate the other, what has been referred to as the union. Both affect the most vulnerable populations,” he said in a statement.
Acre, in particular, saw the number of suspected dengue cases increase by nearly 300% between January and March this year, compared to the same period in 2020.
The state was also affected by the second wave of Covid-19, with a high of more than 1,000 new cases per day in mid-March.