Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

ADVERTISEMENT

COVID-19 and Darwin’s Natural Selection among Humans

With the advent of COVID-19, there seems to be a negative selection pressure working against those who may be genetically or otherwise (due to their lifestyle, co-morbidities etc.) predisposed to develop severe symptoms, ultimately leading to death. Majority of people are either unaffected or develop mild to moderate symptoms and survive. It is less than 5% of population who suffer high risk of severe symptoms, damage to lungs and consequent mortality. The way the variants are evolving, particularly how it happened in Italy at the beginning of pandemic and current happenings in India seem to suggest that the population predisposed to develop severe symptoms run the risk of elimination. This becomes even more pertinent particularly in the context of possible ineffectiveness of the currently available vaccines against ever mutating virus. Will a population finally emerge that will be naturally immune to SARS-CoV 2 Virus?  

Darwin’s theory of natural selection and the origin of new species played a key role in origin of modern man. There was a continuous negative selection pressure, in the wild natural world we lived in, against those individuals that were unfit to survive in the new and changing environment. Those with the desired suitable characteristics were favoured by the nature and went on to survive and procreate. In due course of time, these suitable characteristics accumulated in progenies giving rise to a population that was markedly different from the former.  

However, this process of survival of the fittest almost came to grind halt with the growth of human civilisation and industrialization. Welfare state and advances in the medical sciences meant that people who otherwise would not have survived due to negative selection pressure against them, survived and procreated. This almost led to a pause in the natural selection among humans. Actually, it may have led to the creation of artificial selection among human species. 

With the advent of COVID-19, there seems to be a negative selection pressure working against those who may be genetically or otherwise (due to their lifestyle, co-morbidities etc.) predisposed to develop severe symptoms, ultimately leading to death. Majority of people are either unaffected or develop mild to moderate symptoms and survive. It is less than 5% of population who suffer high risk of severe symptoms, damage to lungs and consequent mortality. The way the variants are evolving, particularly how it happened in Italy at the beginning of pandemic and current happenings in India seem to suggest that the population predisposed to develop severe symptoms run the risk of elimination. This becomes even more pertinent particularly in the context of possible ineffectiveness of the currently available vaccines against ever mutating virus.   

Apparently, COVID-19 seems to have re-started natural selection among human beings.  

***

Umesh Prasad
Umesh Prasad
Science journalist | Founder editor, Scientific European magazine

Subscribe to our newsletter

To be updated with all the latest news, offers and special announcements.

Most Popular Articles

Consumption of Sugary Beverages Increases Cancer Risk

Study shows a positive association between consumption of sugary...

Excessive Intake of Protein for Bodybuilding May Impact Health and Lifespan

Study in mice shows that excessive long-term intake of...

Psittacosis in Europe: An Unusual Increase in Cases of Chlamydophila psittaci 

In February 2024, five countries in the WHO European...
- Advertisement -
93,100FansLike
47,341FollowersFollow
1,772FollowersFollow
30SubscribersSubscribe