Sundheds- og Ældreudvalget 2019-20
SUU Alm.del Bilag 333
Offentligt
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Copenhagen, March 2020.
Bo Hembæk Svensson,
Toxoplasma Research
[email protected]
To: Sundhedsministeriet, Sundhedsstyrelsen og Statens Serum Institut
cc: Arbejdsgruppen for Tg v/FVST
cc:
Whom it may concern.
Re: Covid/Toxoplasmosis correlations
1. Summary:
The symptoms reported for Covid-19 are very similar to those of Acute Toxoplasmosis
.
The observed age
distribution in serious Covid-induced incidents matches that of Toxoplasma. Successful Covid treatments
has shown to also be effective against Toxoplasmosis.
This leads to the conjecture that Covid and Toxoplasma could interact in terms of
comorbidity.
•
•
There is an overlap of symptoms in both light and severe cases of Covid/Toxoplasmosis.
The
age distribution of severe symptoms corresponds with that of Toxoplasma infections
among
the population.
o
In the scientific community it is a recognized problem that Corona almost does not affect
children and young adults. If there is comorbidity with Toxoplasma infection this could
explain it.
•
•
The critical brain and CNS related symptoms in Toxoplasmosis is seen reported as Covid symptoms
too.
Successful attempts to cure Covid has been done with medication that also is detrimental to the
Toxoplasma parasite.
2. Toxoplasma background
Billions of adults all over the world have a so-called
late t i fectio
with Toxoplasma gondii (a single
celled parasite). In China and the West, this infection is present in at least 25% of the population.
Over time, the latent infection spreads to the
brain, heart, lungs
and
muscle tissue
in the form of cysts
–
so
the longer a person has had the infection, the more it will have spread throughout the body.
 SUU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 333: Henvendelse af 20/4-20 fra Bo Hembæk Svensson om Covid/Toxoplasma korrelation
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It is estimated that the infection rate
–
as a rule of thumb
–
follows your age, i.e if you are 20 years old the
probability of being infected is 20%, if you are 70 years old the probability is 70%. The distribution of the
parasite in the body is usually orders of magnitude larger in a 70-year-old than in a 20-year-old.
If the immune system is challenged
– this i fectio ca go fro late t to acute
and enter the stage of
Toxoplasmosis.
It will initially show symptoms as dry cough, fever, headache and flu-like symptoms. If it
develops further it can trigger pneumonia and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), seizures,
cardiac arrest and various central nervous system (CNS) disturbances, including encephalitis (inflammation
of the brain). Toxoplasmosis has an incubation time of 14-20 days.
Toxoplasmosis can be treated and 100% cured once the diagnosis is made.
3. Comparison of symptoms.
Symptom
Fever, dry cogh, fatique
Influenze like symptoms
Shortness of breath
ARDS
Pneumonia
Seizure
Ground-glass
opacities in the
lungs
Leukocytosis
Lymphocytosis
Neurological disturbances
Covid
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes:
Histological exa i atio
showed bilateral diffuse alveolar
damage (...)
Interstitial
mononuclear inflammatory
infiltrates
dominated by
lymphocytes, were seen in both
lu gs
Yes
Yes
Yes (at least 30%)
Yes (at least 66%)
Yes: "Compared with non-severe
patients with COVID-19, severe
patients commonly had
neurologic symptoms manifested
as
acute cerebrovascular
diseases,
consciousness
impairment and
skeletal muscle
symptoms."
Acute toxoplasmosis
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes: Toxoplasmic pneumonia has
been classically associated with
bilateral
interstitial pulmonary
infiltrates
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes: "Patients with cerebral
toxoplasmosis mimicking an
acute cerebrovascular accident
or a brain tumor are particularly
frequent."
"The patients had marked
lymphopenia, fever, diffuse
encephalitis, pneumonia,
pancytopenia, and myopathy.
Muscle involvement; included
weakness and wasting,
myalgias"...i.e
skeletal muscle
symptoms.
Yes
Yes
Myopathy
Lymphadenopathy
Yes
Yes
 SUU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 333: Henvendelse af 20/4-20 fra Bo Hembæk Svensson om Covid/Toxoplasma korrelation
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Symptom
Arthralgias
Mental disturbances
Can penetrate the brain-blood-
barrier in a known fashion
General lung problems
Covid
Yes
Yes:
Relationship of incidence of
schizophrenia and COVID-19
infections in China was
calculated. Our data supported
that COVID-19 outbreak
increased risk of schizophrenia
in aged adults.
Unknown
Yes
Acute toxoplasmosis
Yes
Yes. If Toxoplasma is being
causally correlated to anything,
it’s schizophre ia.
Yes
Yes. Also note that Toxoplasma
has ben found in
100% of lung-
cancer
lung-samples.
4. Comparison of treatments that has been successfully tested on Covid-19
There also are interesting overlaps in the treatments administered for Covid, and the same treatments
effects on Toxoplasmosis.
Covid medication/treatment
Several Covid patients have been
successfully treated
"Lopinavir/ritonavir"
Several studies suggest that
Vitamin D reduces risk for Covid
Effective against Toxoplasma?
Yes, very: Lopinavir/ritonavir
caused parasitological
improvement in acute
toxoplasmosis.
Both forms prevented the egress
of the tachyzoites, led to
apoptosis and autophagy (..),
disruption of the
parasitophorous vacuole and the
nanotubular network."
".. Toxoplasma infection was
associated with vitamin D
deficiency."
Proprotein convertase FURIN
constrains Th2 differentiation
and is critical for host resistance
against Toxoplasma gondii
Special note:
FURIN.
Furin plays
an important role in Covid
5. Other noteworthy observations on Covid-19
•
ACE2 receptors (that are critical for infection) are up to 5 times as prevalent in people of Asian
origins. The available data on incidents, mortality etc. supports this.
 SUU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 333: Henvendelse af 20/4-20 fra Bo Hembæk Svensson om Covid/Toxoplasma korrelation
•
Nicotine is an effective ACE2 inhibitor. Also recent data shows that only 4% of the severe cases
where among smokers, even though some 60% of the Chinese males are smokers. Nicotine is
knows as a Toxoplasma antagonist too.