Human Fat Cells Host CCP Virus, Likely Contribute to Inflammation: Preprint Study

A women walks down the street on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Ill., on Oct. 19, 2006. Jeff Haynes/AFP via Getty Images

Human fat cells can be directly infected with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, providing an additional site for the virus to replicate, according to a group of Stanford researchers who set out to determine the COVID-19 risk posed directly by obesity.

According to the researchers mainly based at Stanford’s School of Medicine, studies have shown that fat cells can act as a reservoir for RNA viruses like influenza A and HIV. Their new research, which was released in an October preprint and is awaiting peer-review, suggests that the same is occurring with the CCP virus, which causes the disease COVID-19.