The genetic diversity of Hungarians might help overcome infections?

We, who live today are the offspring of people who have overcome the fight against hundreds of pathogens, and the genetic diversity that characterises the Hungarian population is a beneficial tool in overcoming diseases. However, it is a brittle one that can be very quickly put at risk by obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, stress, depression, or to sum it up, our modern world – says 24.

There are three methods humankind can use to tackle the coronavirus pandemic: with medicines that might make a cure possible, with vaccines that help to prevent the infection, and the isolation of the infected as best as possible. Vaccines will not be ready until 2021, and unless an effective medicine among existing ones is found, developing a new drug might take even longer.

Therefore, quarantine and isolation are our best bet, but the success of this remains to a large extent dependent on our own responsible behaviour.

However, it is worth contemplating that humanity is not facing the coronavirus completely unprotected. Humanity has had already suffered much more devastating outbreaks in much worse situations – 24 discussed this with András Falus, a Széchenyi Prize-winning immunologist, professor emeritus at Semmelweis University.

Each one of our ancestors was a survivor

The history of humans has been one and the same with the fight against pathogens, even though we have only been aware of it for a little more than a century, since the discovery of viruses and bacteria. Our ancestors were living among extremely poor hygiene conditions compared to today, and their physical health could generally be considered weak, and even though they lacked the proper medical and hygienic knowledge when epidemics swept through the population, they still emerged victoriously.

Until about the beginning of the 20^th century, everything happened in nature’s ordinary course.

A virus or bacterium appeared, infected everyone it could reach, and unfortunately, it left many people deceased, yet the survivors buried their dead and gained protection from the disease – and this is our primary defence line today.

It might be commonplace in immunology, but the fact is that we are the descendants of many generations of survivors. The offspring of people who have repelled the attack of hundreds or thousands of pathogens and have become resistant to many and this immunogenetic heritage is protecting every one of us right now, even though we have to deal with a new version of the virus. – Professor Falus said to 24.