{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]],"date-time":"2026-09-28T21:21:47Z","timestamp":1790630507427,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,18]],"date-time":"2021-02-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1613606400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Sub-Saharan Africa has generally experienced few cases and deaths of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition to other potential explanations for the few cases and deaths of COVID-19 such as the population socio-demographics, early lockdown measures and the possibility of under reporting, we hypothesize in this mini review that individuals with a recent history of malaria infection may be protected against infection or severe form of COVID-19. Given that both the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and <jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum<\/jats:italic> (<jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic>) merozoites bind to the cluster of differentiation 147 (CD147) immunoglobulin, we hypothesize that the immunological memory against <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic> merozoites primes SARS-CoV-2 infected cells for early phagocytosis, hence protecting individuals with a recent <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic> infection against COVID-19 infection or severity. This mini review therefore discusses the potential biological link between <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic> infection and COVID-19 infection or severity and further highlights the importance of CD147 immunoglobulin as an entry point for both SARS-CoV-2 and <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic> into host cells.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2021.565625","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,20]],"date-time":"2021-02-20T13:21:55Z","timestamp":1613827315000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":26,"title":["Less Severe Cases of COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa: Could Co-infection or a Recent History of Plasmodium falciparum Infection Be 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