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Editorial
. 2020 Apr 16;9(4):1138.
doi: 10.3390/jcm9041138.

Global Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 and Malaria: An Epidemiological Paradox in the Early Stage of A Pandemic

Pietro Emanuele Napoli  1 , Matteo Nioi  2
Affiliations
Editorial

Global Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 and Malaria: An Epidemiological Paradox in the Early Stage of A Pandemic

Pietro Emanuele Napoli et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

In the current work, we discovered and analyzed the epidemiological paradox between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and malaria in the initial phase of the ongoing pandemic. From the analysis of distribution data, the endemic presence of malaria seems to protect some populations from COVID-19 outbreak, particularly in the least developed countries. In this sense, molecular and genetic variations associated with malaria (e.g., in ACE2) might play a protective role against coronavirus infection. Moreover, the mechanism of action of some antimalarial drugs, e.g., the antiviral function, suggests their potential role in the chemoprophylaxis of coronavirus epidemics, despite possible adverse effects (e.g., retinal toxicity). All these data provide important insights to understand the spreading mechanisms of COVID-19, and to direct scientific research toward the study of some currently available medications.

Keywords: ACE-2 receptor; COVID-19; antimalarials; coronavirus disease; epidemiological paradox; malaria.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution maps of betacoronaviruses and malaria. Color scale of the number of cases (white = none, light purple = very low, blue = low, green = moderate, yellow = moderately high, orange = very high, red = extremely high). Color bar indicates the sequence of positive values [very low number of cases = light purple to extremely high number of cases = red]. Panel A shows the map representing the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV) in the terminal phase of epidemic in 2003 (WHO data source) [7]. The map in the panel B represents the confirmed global cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV) 2012-2017 as of 1 September 2017 (WHO data source) [8]. Panel C represents the map of countries with indigenous cases of malaria in 2000 and their status by 2017 (WHO data source) [9].In panel D is shown the distribution of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases as of 25 March 2020 (WHO data source) [6].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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