It is accepted that having two infections at the same time raises the chances of serious complications or of dying.

With the 2009 phony H1N1 (bird flu) pandemic, it was shown that taking the vaccine worsened one’s chances of suffering serious complications or dying.

This is because of the effect of immune overactivation caused by multiple infections, or by stimulating the immune system with a vaccine and then becoming infected.

The high mortality rate associated with Ebola in Africa — as well as a number of other viruses — is based on the fact that so many Africans have parasitic infections.

Malaria, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, and various types of roundworms are all indigenous to Central and Western Africa, the regions with the highest Ebola infection rates.

Studies have shown that these infections inhibit targeted cellular immunity, the type most effective against viruses.

At the same time, these infections overstimulate certain immune cells that produce cytokines and chemokines — immune chemicals that promote intense inflammation.

Because such infections are less common in the United States, Africans are much more likely than Americans to die from infections such as Ebola.

Infection with malaria, which is indigenous to Western and Central Africa, has been shown to greatly increase the cytokine reaction to other infections.