Influence of Malaria Edemicity and Standardized TB Prevalence to BCG Coverage on Covid-19 Mortality

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundRegarding SARS-CoV-2 it is well known that a substantial percentage of adult population cannot get infected if exposed to this novel coronavirus. Several studies give primary indication of the possible role of preexisting immunity whether cross immunity or not. Possible role of latent TB and BCG and malaria have been already suggested to create innate cross heterogeneous immunity. We look for influence of these factors on Covid-19 mortality in malarious countries.Material and methods80 malarious countries are enrolled in this study. Hierarchical multiple regression type of analyses is used for data analyses. TB prevalence/ 100,000 population standardized to BCG coverage rates is taken as direct factor in the test. Malaria incidence /1000 population is considered as intermediate factor and the outcome is COVID-19 mortality/ 1 million (M) population.ResultsTB prevalence is associated with reduced COVID-19 mortality and malaria have an additional effect in reducing COVID-19 mortality. The results show with robust statistical support that TB prevalence was also associated with reduced COVID-19 mortality with additional effect that is also observed in TB and BCG coverage rate.ConclusionsMalaria and standardized TB prevalence are statistical significant factors predicting COVID-19 mortality in negative associations.