Magnesium deficiency and COVID- 19 – What are the links?

DOI 10.5414/TEX01651 e-pub: June 25, 2020 *President of the German Society for Magnesium Research e.V. **Vice-President of the Society for Magnesium Research e.V. The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is causing an ongoing worldwide pandemic of COVID-19. The infection with this single-stranded RNA virus appears to be asymptomatic in a large fraction of people, and many other patients may experience mild symptoms such as fever, cough, anosmia, and myalgia. Some German patients need hospitalization, and some will develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and a significant subset will require treatment in the intensive care unit to provide respiratory ventilator support. Unfortunately, there is no causal curative treatment or a vaccination available, so far. In this context, the potential prophylactic and therapeutic options for the novel SARS-CoV-2 infection and corresponding COVID-19, as well as interventions with special nutrients like zinc or vitamin D are discussed, especially due to their role in the immune system [1, 2, 3, 4]. Magnesium (Mg) has a strong relation with the immune system as well, and immunological functions are disturbed in case of Mg deficiency [5, 6]. Interestingly, in patients with XMEN disease (X-linked immunodeficiency with Mg defect, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, Magnesium deficiency and COVID-19 – What are the links? Some remarks from the German Society for Magnesium Research e.V.