The mystery of Giglio island’s resistance to COVID-19
An intriguing new study explores the mechanisms by which an Italian island called Giglio remained resistant to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) even after much exposure. The paper, published on the preprint server
medRxiv , is an initial attempt to understand why some people do not contract the infection, with special reference to the role of endemic coronaviruses in eliciting cross-reactive immunity.
The researchers carried out an extensive seroprevalence study from April 29 to May 3, 2020, including the island’s three chief settlements. All adults living on the island were invited to participate in rapid serologic testing. A sample of saliva was obtained from all participants and validation testing by polymerase chain reaction testing for viral RNA. The participants were compared with the official municipal list of residents.