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.

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Genetic diversity is an enormous advantage

In general, everyone is very tough, and the Hungarian population – due to their origin and history – is especially so. Hungarian people were born from a blend of several ethnicities somewhere in our foggy, early past, and our history here in the Carpathian Basin was not spent in isolation either. Some people were invited, some assimilated, others violently invaded, but genetically it makes no difference; from the Atlantic to the Asian steppes, from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, Hungary has always been a melting pot of people and their genomes over our history. The benefit of this genetic diversity is that there are always people to whom one pathogen is not so dangerous or even ineffective. According to the professor, the genetic heterogeneity of the Hungarian population could be advantageous in this critical situation as well.

It is up to us how we use it

The other side of the coin is more depressing. We have inherited a castle with walls and bastions in vain if the dangers of modern civilisation besiege them. Sedentary lifestyle, malnutrition, obesity, smoking, stress, excessive alcohol consumption, pathological conditions like diabetes or cardiovascular issues, and many others are common problems of our modern society. Their common characteristic, however, is that they negatively affect the functioning of our immune system, weaken the walls and destroy its effectiveness. It is not enough to simply just expect this castle to protect us if we do not do anything ourselves to defend it? No, it is not.

Genetic diversity is a very helpful and essential tool to help protect us, but we still need to keep our body as safe and healthy as possible.

Source: 24.hu