'Cytokine storm'; identifying this immune response is key to patient's survival: report [View all]

[G_j]

https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2020/03/the-coronavirus-turns-deadly-when-it-leads-to-cytokine-storm-identifying-this-immune-response-is-key-to-patients-survival-report.html

The coronavirus turns deadly when it leads to ‘cytokine storm’; identifying this immune response is key to patient’s survival: report

March 13

Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has swept across the globe, is not like a bad case of the flu.

For one thing, a new study indicates that Covid-19 triggers in some people something called a cytokine storm, where one’s own immune system goes berserk. This “virus-activated” immune response can be deadly, causing severe respiratory distress and the subsequent shutdown of multiple organs.

Indeed, how one’s immune system reacts appears to be central to Covid-19′s severity.

“The virus matters, but the host response matters at least as much, and probably more,” University of Iowa virologist Stanley Perlman told The Scientist magazine last month.

For some people whose immune systems are compromised by age or for often-subtle genetic or environmental reasons, the normal immune response doesn’t retreat when it should. It goes into overdrive, leading to “a flood of immune cells into the lung.” This has a rapid cascading effect in the body.

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