The latter is especially important, according to Rafael Máñez, head of the intensive care unit at Bellvitge University Hospital, near Barcelona, Spain, because of COVID-19’s “severe” phase, which happens in around 10 percent of those stricken with the disease.
During this phase, infected individuals develop what is known among experts as a “cytokine storm” or an uncontrolled inflammatory response of the immune system. This “storm” is what causes most of the critical conditions and eventually, fatalities, in infected individuals.
“The exact mechanisms of cytokine storms are pretty much unknown,” said Roger Paredes, Head of the Infectious Diseases Section at Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital in Spain, noting that while the body’s inflammatory response is a natural immune system reaction that’s necessary to repair cell damage, the cytokine storm triggered in COVID-19 patients actually does more harm than good.
“With normal pneumonia, germs damage the pulmonary tissue and the immune system generates an inflammatory response to stop it. The immune system ‘kills’ some cells to repair the damaged tissue. What is happening now with coronavirus is that instead of sending a few cells it’s sending tonnes of cells that generate an uncontrolled inflammatory response, not only in lungs but can be widespread in the body,” Paredes explained...<<Read The Full Article Here>>>...