A recent study in Brazil found that people who were once infected with dengue were more likely to have a certain level of immunity to the Covid-19 epidemic.
A study led by a professor from Duke University, Miguel Nicolelis, compares the prevalence of coronavirus cases with dengue geographically last year and this year.
Places that experienced severe dengue transmission last year and this year were reported to have low coronavirus infections and slow case growth.
"This surprising finding increases the likelihood of a cross-reaction between Flavivirus dengue serotypes and SARS-CoV-2.
"If proven correct, this hypothesis means that envy or immunization with an effective and safe dengue vaccine can produce a certain level of immunological protection against coronavirus," said Nicolelis.
He added that the findings were interesting because previous studies showed that individuals with dengue antibodies in their blood, would be found positive for Covid-19 even though they had never been infected with the virus.
"This shows that there is an immunological interaction between two viruses that no one expected because the two viruses are from two different families," Nicolelis explained, adding that further studies are needed to prove the hypothesis.
