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17.03.2021

Covid-19 infection with hardly any symptoms - thanks to the tanning bed?

You have all the characteristics of someone who can become deathly ill from infection with the dreaded covid-19 virus, yet infection has little effect on your health. All you notice is a dry cough. This may be thanks to some artificial UVb-radiation from a tanning bed, which has provided a decent vitamin D level. This is suggested by a case study that Martina Kralj, a dermatologist from Karlovac General Hospital in Croatia, will soon publish in Clinical Case Reports.

The case
The protagonist in Kralj's publication is a 66-year-old man who is suffering from a dry cough at the time doctors examine him. He has a mild fever, but no other symptoms. Still, since the case dates back to the corona era, doctors decide to properly examine the man.

The man has all the characteristics of someone who comes into a ICU because of infection with Covid-19 virus. Not only is he over 65 and male, but obese too. He has smoked a lot in the past, and stopped 6 years ago. He is a type-2 diabetic, has high blood pressure, and is on medication for both conditions.

The man also has a joint disease for which he is on heavy medication and which compromises his immune system. And during the investigation, to top it all off, it comes to light that he probably has a kidney defect.

Covid-19
The doctors decide they want to test the man for covid-19. A first PCR test, which must show the presence of the coronavirus or viruses that resemble it, is positive. A few weeks later, a second test comes back negative. In the man's blood, the researchers find antibodies for the feared virus. So the man has been infected with the coronavirus, but his immune system has already dealt with it.

This was remarkable. Why didn't this man end up in the ICU?

A possible explanation is that the man has a relatively high vitamin D level. His blood contained 92.2 nanomoles of 25-OH vitamin D3 per liter. The man was due to the effect of the UVb treatment that he had been receiving for several months to combat a skin disorder.

When contamination with covid-19 results in serious illness, this situation is usually the result of the virus knocking out T-reg immune cells. You see one on the right. T-reg cells stop immune responses once a pathogen has been neutralized, preventing the immune system from causing unnecessary tissue damage.

Vitamin D increases the activity and production of T-reg cells.

Conclusion
"In conclusion, we point to likely possible role of vitamin D as a positive modifier of COVID-19 course and outcome and suggest that routine determination of 25-OH-vitamin D3 status could be considered as useful tool for, at least rough, estimation of COVID-19 outcome, as well as for deciding on vitamin D3 supplementation",writes Kralj.

Source:
Clin Case Rep. 2021;00:1-7.

More:
Vitamin D deficiency reduces survival after coronavirus infection 21.08.2020
Vitamin D may be a Covid-19 drug, American study suggests 04.05.2020
After infection with the coronavirus, a high vitamin D level may prevent you from getting sick 24.04.2020

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