Puzzled scientists seek reasons behind Africa's low fatality rates from pandemic

[webfact]

Puzzled scientists seek reasons behind Africa's low fatality rates from pandemic

By Alexander Winning

 

FILE PHOTO: A health worker walks between beds at a temporary field hospital set up by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Khayelitsha township near Cape Town, South Africa, July 21, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

 

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Africa's overburdened public health systems, dearth of testing facilities and overcrowded slums had experts predicting a disaster when COVID-19 hit the continent in February.

 

The new coronavirus was already wreaking havoc in wealthy Asian and European nations, and a United Nations agency said in April that, even with social-distancing measures, the virus could kill 300,000 Africans this year.

 

In May the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that 190,000 people on the continent could die if containment measures failed. Yet as the world marks 1 million COVID-19 deaths, Africa is doing much better than expected, with a lower percentage of deaths than other continents.

 

The continent's case fatality count stands at 2.4%, with roughly 35,000 deaths among the more than 1.4 million people reported infected with COVID-19, according to Reuters data as at late Monday. In North America, it is 2.9% and in Europe 4.5%

 

Hard-hit countries such as Italy and Britain have recorded fatality counts of 11.6% and 9.0% respectively, compared to 1.6% for Ethiopia, 1.9% for Nigeria and 2.4% for South Africa, the continent's worst affected country.

 

Hospitals in many African countries say COVID-19 admission rates are falling.

 

"Based on what we have seen so far it is unlikely that we are going to see anything at the scale that we are seeing in Europe - both in terms of infections and mortality," said Rashida Ferrand, a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine professor working at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in the Zimbabwean capital Harare.

 

Experts say that some COVID-19 deaths in Africa probably are being missed. Testing rates in the continent of about 1.3 billion people are among the lowest in the world, and many deaths of all types go unrecorded.

 

South Africa saw some 17,000 extra deaths from natural causes between early May and mid-July, 59% more than would normally be expected, according to a July report from the South African Medical Research Council. That suggests the death toll from COVID-19 could be significantly higher than the official figure, currently over 16,000, researchers say. Even so, there is wide agreement that COVID-19 fatality rates have not so far been as bad as predicted.

 

Why? Scientists and public health experts cite a number of possible factors, including the continent's youthful population and lessons learned from previous disease outbreaks. African governments also had precious time to prepare due to the relative isolation of many of their citizens from airports and other places where they could come into contact with global travellers.

 

Some scientists also are exploring the possibility that a tuberculosis vaccine routinely given to children in many African countries might be helping reduce deaths from COVID-19.

 

Another theory being considered is whether prior exposure to other coronaviruses including those that cause the common cold has provided a degree of resistance in some of the very communities once thought to be most vulnerable.

 

"There is a lot of circumstantial evidence," Salim Abdool Karim, a South African infectious disease specialist who has advised the government on COVID-19, told Reuters, "but there is no smoking gun."

 

LESSONS LEARNED

The virus hit Africa later than other continents, giving medical personnel time to set up field hospitals, source oxygen and ventilators, and learn from improvements in treatment elsewhere.

 

"We got the gift of time," said Thumbi Mwangi, senior research fellow at the University of Nairobi's Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases. "We had an amount of preparation that others did not."

 

One reason could be that international travel is limited in many African countries, and travelling domestically can be more difficult than on other continents, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, told a news conference on Thursday.

 

The continent's governments have also battled deadly infectious diseases such as Ebola, which killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa in 2013-16. So officials took notice when the new coronavirus started spreading around the globe rapidly early this year.

 

Many African countries were quick to introduce screening at airports, suspend flights from heavily affected nations and enforce social distancing measures and mask wearing.

 

Within a week of Kenya reporting its first case, schools were shut, incoming travellers had to undergo a mandatory quarantine and large gatherings were banned. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, imposed a ban on interstate travel and a curfew. Many of its land borders had already been closed since August 2019 to cut down on smuggling, which helped fight the pandemic too.

 

South Africa introduced one of the world's toughest lockdowns in late March, when the country had confirmed just 400 cases.

 

"Africa brought down the hammer earlier in terms of coronavirus lockdowns," said Tim Bromfield, regional director for East and Southern Africa at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a U.K.-based think tank.

 

Experts also point to the continent's demographics.

 

Research has found that the risk of developing severe COVID-19 increases with age.

 

A 2019 United Nations report said 62% of sub-Saharan Africa's population was under 25 and just 3% 65 or over. In the U.N.'s Europe and North America region, 28% were under 25 while 18% were age 65 and up.

 

Chikwe Ihekweazu, director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, attributed his country's relatively low case mortality rate in part to the fact that the majority of patients were between the ages of 31 and 40.

 

CROSS-PROTECTION?

Scientists in several countries including South Africa are testing whether the century-old Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, widely used on the continent against tuberculosis, provides a degree of cross-protection.

 

BCG vaccines have been shown to protect against other viral respiratory illnesses, and a study published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in July found that countries with higher vaccination rates for tuberculosis had lower peak mortality rates from COVID-19.

Studies have also started in South Africa and Zimbabwe to assess the impact of past exposure to other coronaviruses.

 

More than half of Africa's urban population is concentrated in slums, where access to water for hand washing is scarce, and physical distancing is near-impossible.

 

Diseases spread rapidly under such conditions, but some scientists wonder whether that may have been an unexpected boon in this case. There is some evidence that T cells developed by the body's immune system after exposure to other common cold coronaviruses could help fight off COVID-19.

 

"I would say that is at least a plausible explanation as to why there are different levels of resistance to the virus in different populations," said Thomas Scriba, an immunologist and deputy director of the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative.

 

Others are more sceptical.

 

"All other regions have been exposed to coronaviruses, have poor people and slums and have received BCG vaccination," said Humphrey Karamagi, team leader for data and analytics at the WHO's Africa office. "We are most probably looking at a mix of multiple factors working together - and not a single magic bullet."

 

For Sam Agatre Okuonzi, from the Arua Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda, the doomsday predictions were informed by entrenched prejudices, including that the continent is prone to disease.

 

"COVID-19 has shattered a lot of biases about disease in general but also about Africa," he told Thursday's briefing. "The severity of the pandemic has not played out in line with the outrageous predictions."

 

(Additional reporting by Wendell Roelf in Cape Town and Tim Cocks in Johannesburg, MacDonald Dzirutwe in Harare, Ed McAllister in Dakar, Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos, Katharine Houreld in Nairobi and Giulia Paravicini in Addis Ababa; Editing by Alexandra Zavis and David Gregorio)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-29

 

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[bodga]

There  aint  much in Wales either where my Mother  lives, sparsely populated thats  why, Ceredigion either that or they got  immunity from the sheep??

Edited September 29, 2020 by bodga

[Fat is a type of crazy]

Because they're not as fat as people from, say, Europe and the states. Many who die are obese.

Edited September 29, 2020 by Fat is a type of crazy

[bodga]

13 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

Because they're not as fat as people from, say, Europe and the states. Many who die are obese.

ah  but its  swings and roundabouts, if they were  on the Titanic  going down theyd  die first in the freezing waters.........although not  too many icebergs in Africa

[geriatrickid]

1 hour ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

Because they're not as fat as people from, say, Europe and the states. Many who die are obese.

The problem with generalizations is that they can easily be picked apart. Yes, morbid obesity plays a part, or is it the  age of those patients? The data indicates that the under age 30 fatalities were not related to morbid obesity.

In the UK,  and Canada there has been a disproportionate number of people of colour impacted. They are not all fat, nor old. Rather, a large number were in the service industries and in healthcare (from cleaners to attendants to health care providers). Now, the surge of cases is made up of mostly under age 40  people, primarily  18-22 years of age.

 

I have a feeling that the African results reflect lower viral load exposures and a young population. There was significant  importation of the infection the rest of the world.Africa didn't have that characteristic.

[DrTuner]

Vulnerable already dead from other diseases? The populations tend to be younger.

[Chassa]

3 hours ago, bodga said:

There  aint  much in Wales either where my Mother  lives, sparsely populated thats  why, Ceredigion either that or they got  immunity from the sheep??

Not much in Australia except the 2 biggest cities. maybe sheep too!

[Walkabout]

Maybe because the immune system of most Africans is better trained to fight contagious illnesses, being more exposed to various bugs early in life, less unnatural food, less medications that poison the body and less vaccinations that weakens the natural immune system . . .

Edited September 29, 2020 by Walkabout

[Scot123]

This screams the reality that doctors are now coming out and saying and even an MP for the first time in Parliament "UK" death rates of healthy people who are not already terminally ill is mathematically zero! Yes zero. Under 50 more likely to die in a car crash and only 360 50-60 have died from Covid (our NHS figures published for those who will scream liar). Scientific facts Now State Covid is less deadly than the common flu!!! This has turned out to be a bigger farce than Mad Cows when figures of hundreds of thousands a year dying from Mad Cows when in reality only 150 have died in 10 years, oh that also was Niel Ferguson. When then it was thousands of cattle killed now the figure is 80,000 people murdered sorry killed because of the lockdown in the uk alone.  I could go on and on with more FACTS!!! WAKE UP.

[Walkabout]

Another view on the lockdowns . . . https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/china-covid-lockdown-propaganda

[Dap]

When will someone wonder about Thailand as well?

[Nout]

6 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

The problem with generalizations is that they can easily be picked apart. Yes, morbid obesity plays a part, or is it the  age of those patients? The data indicates that the under age 30 fatalities were not related to morbid obesity.

In the UK,  and Canada there has been a disproportionate number of people of colour impacted. They are not all fat, nor old. Rather, a large number were in the service industries and in healthcare (from cleaners to attendants to health care providers). Now, the surge of cases is made up of mostly under age 40  people, primarily  18-22 years of age.

 

I have a feeling that the African results reflect lower viral load exposures and a young population. There was significant  importation of the infection the rest of the world.Africa didn't have that characteristic.

UK blacks live on fast food, especially greasy cheap fried chicken.

[Donga]

I'm with Sam...

"For Sam Agatre Okuonzi, from the Arua Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda, the doomsday predictions were informed by entrenched prejudices, including that the continent is prone to disease."

 

"COVID-19 has shattered a lot of biases about disease in general but also about Africa," he told Thursday's briefing. "The severity of the pandemic has not played out in line with the outrageous predictions."

Tough mothers, those Africans ????

Edited September 29, 2020 by Donga

[pacovl46]

2 hours ago, Scot123 said:

This screams the reality that doctors are now coming out and saying and even an MP for the first time in Parliament "UK" death rates of healthy people who are not already terminally ill is mathematically zero! Yes zero. Under 50 more likely to die in a car crash and only 360 50-60 have died from Covid (our NHS figures published for those who will scream liar). Scientific facts Now State Covid is less deadly than the common flu!!! This has turned out to be a bigger farce than Mad Cows when figures of hundreds of thousands a year dying from Mad Cows when in reality only 150 have died in 10 years, oh that also was Niel Ferguson. When then it was thousands of cattle killed now the figure is 80,000 people murdered sorry killed because of the lockdown in the uk alone.  I could go on and on with more FACTS!!! WAKE UP.

First of all, this was a novel virus of which no one knew exactly what it was going to do, as a matter of fact we still don’t know what the long term effects are! Therefore they had to take drastic measurements because, if they hadn’t and people would’ve really started to die like flies, which by the way they did in Italy and Spain and NYC, people like you would’ve been screaming incompetence and bloody murder! Also, fortune telling isn’t a real thing, they had no choice, but to act accordingly! Better safe than sorry! In hindsight it’s always so easy to judge from the comfort of your armchair! 

 

Second of all, between 250000 and half a million people die each year of the common flu, which is allowed to more or less freely roam the face of the earth, while over a million people have already died from Covid, that’s two to three times as many people and that’s despite the lockdown, without it that number would certainly be a lot higher! So don’t tell me that the common flu is way worse than Covid! Also, all credible research pointed towards Covid being easier transmittable and a much higher kill rate than the flu. Again, they had no choice, but to handle it the way they did! 

 

In conclusion it very much looks like it’s you who needs to “WAKE UP” and get off the “I’m so inconvenienced by Covid and wearing masks and I can’t take it anymore because I want to get my hair cut” bandwagon and suck it up! 

Edited September 29, 2020 by pacovl46

[jvs]

31 minutes ago, Dap said:

When will someone wonder about Thailand as well?

I read some where today that Thai people maybe immune more or less because of mosquito

anti bodies.More specific dengue fever.

Could be?

[FarFlungFalang]

23 minutes ago, pacovl46 said:

So don’t tell me that the common flu is way worse than Covid!

H1N1 is a common Flu and killed an estimated 30-50 million people in 1918 which makes it considerably worse than Covid with 1 million so far.So I will tell you the common flu is on record way worse the covid!

[Bender Rodriguez]

maybe most people are not

 

overweight

don't sit in an office all day, getting fat

don't have insulin resistance like 80 percent of the west

don't take multiple medications

 

[FarFlungFalang]

12 minutes ago, jvs said:

I read some where today that Thai people maybe immune more or less because of mosquito

anti bodies.More specific dengue fever.

Could be?

Could be,it could also be that the doctors and medical experts are,as the title suggests,puzzled.Now that it's over medical experts other than those that advised governments are getting to say that it's not so bad and is really just the flu.Hopefully the research continues and we find some answers to what actually happened rather than panic driven predictions. 

[jak2002003]

9 hours ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

Because they're not as fat as people from, say, Europe and the states. Many who die are obese.

Yes, and the average younger then in UK and most of Europe. The virus mainly kills older people.

 

I think that the native Africans are a lot hardier and resilient than the average flabby old unhealthy people in the West. They have to be to survive in the slums and poverty. 

[oompie69]

1 hour ago, pacovl46 said:

First of all, this was a novel virus of which no one knew exactly what it was going to do, as a matter of fact we still don’t know what the long term effects are! Therefore they had to take drastic measurements because, if they hadn’t and people would’ve really started to die like flies, which by the way they did in Italy and Spain and NYC, people like you would’ve been screaming incompetence and bloody murder! Also, fortune telling isn’t a real thing, they had no choice, but to act accordingly! Better safe than sorry! In hindsight it’s always so easy to judge from the comfort of your armchair! 

 

Second of all, between 250000 and half a million people die each year of the common flu, which is allowed to more or less freely roam the face of the earth, while over a million people have already died from Covid, that’s two to three times as many people and that’s despite the lockdown, without it that number would certainly be a lot higher! So don’t tell me that the common flu is way worse than Covid! Also, all credible research pointed towards Covid being easier transmittable and a much higher kill rate than the flu. Again, they had no choice, but to handle it the way they did! 

 

In conclusion it very much looks like it’s you who needs to “WAKE UP” and get off the “I’m so inconvenienced by Covid and wearing masks and I can’t take it anymore because I want to get my hair cut” bandwagon and suck it up! 

Good points you made. 

However, there is no scientific information that supports the theory that the lockdown measures prevented more infections and deaths. It could quite easily have made it worse.

Having a group of individuals cooped up in an enclosed space for an extended time is more likely to cause group infection than allowing them to circulate in open spaces. With people being allowed to exit these spaces for food purchases etc., it only takes one to introduce the virus into the enclosed group in an enclosed space to start the group infection.  

[3NUMBAS]

4 hours ago, Walkabout said:

Maybe because the immune system of most Africans is better trained to fight contagious illnesses, being more exposed to various bugs early in life, less unnatural food, less medications that poison the body and less vaccinations that weakens the natural immune system . . .

africans in usa and uk are not so lucky as theyre first to die

[DrTuner]

It could be genetic. I just bumped into an article about some work that included Finnish researchers, and they are finding our interferons play a role (cytokines). And some of it is genetic.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferon

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/23/science.abd4585

 

It's a very heavy and technical read, but it's starting to make sense why certain groups are worse affected. There are also inborn errors that seem to make some individuals more susceptible to severe illness:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/28/science.abd4570

 

EDIT: Yes, that'd be a racist virus. 

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by DrTuner

[TeaMonkey]

Younger population and a higher level of vitamin D. 

[Flying Saucage]

24 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

It could be genetic. I just bumped into an article about some work that included Finnish researchers, and they are finding our interferons play a role (cytokines). And some of it is genetic.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferon

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/23/science.abd4585

 

It's a very heavy and technical read, but it's starting to make sense why certain groups are worse affected. There are also inborn errors that seem to make some individuals more susceptible to severe illness:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/09/28/science.abd4570

 

EDIT: Yes, that'd be a racist virus. 

 

...plus - I repeat myself -  better ventilated houses compared to Europe. In Europe we have winter, and we have high-quality houses with very tight and well sealed energy-saving windows, and many people are too lazy to open the windows to let fresh air in in wintertime. In Africa, it is hot, windows and doors are open, or at least not well sealed, especially in the slums where vulnerable people live on narrow space. This reduces the virus load in the air, and leads to more mild or asymptomatic cases than infections with a high virus load. This is a bit similar to South East Asia, wherever people live without air condition. 

 

But I agree that this possible does not yet explain the differences between slums in Manila and Lagos.

 

So yes, surely there are multiple factors, but this is one of them. Genetics might be another one, of course. Do you know, Asians and Caucasians have 3% genes of Neanderthalers, whereas Africans don't have. I heard that this is one reason why we are more vulnarable for diabetes.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by Flying Saucage

[bodga]

15 hours ago, Chassa said:

Not much in Australia except the 2 biggest cities. maybe sheep too!

aha ,   a  sheep link????  and  wait New  Zealand is  also doing well,  i  think Ive cracked it

[gamb00ler]

11 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

H1N1 is a common Flu and killed an estimated 30-50 million people in 1918 which makes it considerably worse than Covid with 1 million so far.So I will tell you the common flu is on record way worse the covid!

This is simply a comparison that cannot stand up to any type of serious scrutiny.

To come to your conclusion you would need to show that most, if not all other conditions in effect during the two different pandemics were the same or similar enough that they had little or no impact on the result.

Can you do that?

Edited September 29, 2020 by gamb00ler

[connda]

What's a "Covid fatality."  In the West the statistics seem to be juked to the point that it has become great meme material. 
"Airliner crashes.  225 passengers die of Covid."

Africa may only be recording deaths directly attributable to Covid and not those where co-morbidity was probably the primary reason the patient died. 

[FarFlungFalang]

9 hours ago, TeaMonkey said:

Younger population and a higher level of vitamin D. 

Also more time spent in well ventilated space,like outside.

[tonray]

13 hours ago, Dap said:

When will someone wonder about Thailand as well?

Pla Ra will kill anything

[Dumbastheycome]

It could be that the majority of Africans are not subject the influences  that those in the US  are ?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/america-the-medicated/