Some Neanderthals Might Have Gone Extinct due to Corona-Viruses
It had been reported that Neanderthals have left a certain feature in the genes of the modern mankind that has introduced weakness against corona-viruses:
A recent genetic association study (Ellinghaus et al. 2020) identified a gene cluster on chromosome 3 as a risk locus for respiratory failure in SARS-CoV-2. Recent data comprising 3,199 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and controls reproduce this and find that it is the major genetic risk factor for severe SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization (COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative). Here, we show that the risk is conferred by a genomic segment of ~50 kb that is inherited from Neandertals and occurs at a frequency of ~30% in south Asia and ~8% in Europe. (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.03.186296v1)
However East Asians and Sub-Sahara Africans have this feature in a lesser amount, but Bangladeshi have it in a larger ratio among them (63% of Bangladeshi have at least one set of relevant genes).
It has been proved that the number of deaths in Japan is one hundredth of that in Europe or the U.S. But India, adjacent to Bangladesh, has the far larger number of victims of corona-viruses than Japan.
(Deaths by corona-viruses: More than 190,000 in the U.S and about 1,400 in Japan as of Sept. 9, 2020, although the population of the U.S. is abut three times larger than Japan's.)
It is also thought that Neanderthals who had lived in the region now called Croatia had a stronger relationship with the direct ancestors of the modern mankind than in other regions.
So we may say that we have confirmed that some of Homo sapiens or our direct ancestors married some of Neanderthals. This scenario looks more likely than the one that viruses introduced the relevant genes to both Homo sapience and Neanderthals. However, 99% of genes of the mankind are the same as those of chimpanzees. Neanderthals were closer to the mankind than chimpanzees are. Rather, we had better think that some Neanderthals had changed their DNAs or genes to be part of Homo sapiens or the mankind.
Then we may find the reason why Neanderthals disappeared 40,000 years ago from the earth without any drastic events such as wars between them and Homo sapiens. Some Neanderthals might have just evolved to Homo sapiens by changing less than 1% of their genes taking hundreds of thousands of years. But other Neanderthals who could not evolve to Homo sapiens must have gone extinct 40,000 years ago due to corona-viruses or other viruses. In this context, Neanderthals did not completely go extinct but still continue to live today as part of Homo sapiens.
Furthermore, some of Denisovans and other types of Archaic humans might have evolved to part of Homo sapiens or the modern mankind taking hundreds of thousands of years, since they could change their genes or DNAs.
Indeed, some fish became living things on the land, some dinosaurs became birds, and some primates became the mankind, all by changing their DNAs and genes by themselves. And even some men might be able to evolve to a kind of Angels by changing their DNAs and genes based on faith in the God.
Mark 9 King James Version
8 And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.
9 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.
10 And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.