Previous Dengue Infection Increases COVID-19 Risk

Experts from the University of São Paulo analyzed blood samples from Brazil and found that people who have had Dengue previously are twice as likely to exhibit COVID-19 symptoms when infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The study is published in the Oxford Academic journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The researchers collected blood samples from 1,285 residents of Mâncio Lima, a small town in the state of Acre, part of Brazil's Amazon region. The results showed that the populations most exposed to Dengue, probably due to socio-demographic factors, are at high risk of getting sick when infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Marcelo Urbano Ferreira, leader of the study, said that the results indicate an example of a synergistic epidemic or syndemic, wherein two epidemic diseases exhibit a synergic interaction so that one aggravates the effects of the other.

Read more information in Clinical Infectious Diseases and Agencia FAPESP.