The new coronavirus spreading rapidly around the globe can be deadly because it targets a very vulnerable and essential part of the body the lungs.
The coronaviruses that can set you back with a common cold typically infects just the nose, sinuses and throat. But it’s more common for the one responsible for COVID-19 to spread into the cells of the airways and lungs as well.
“The virus basically hijacks the cell and reprograms it genetically to make more copies of virus,” said Dr. Otto Yang, an infectious disease expert at UCLA.
Then it begins its attack.
About 86,000 people around the world have been infected with the novel coronavirus from China, and 2,977 have died. The first fatality in the U.S. was reported on Saturday.
An analysis of nearly 45,000 patients in China revealed that the vast majority of those cases 81% caused only minor illness. An additional 14% had symptoms described as “severe.” Just 5% of the cases were deemed “critical,” and half of those infections resulted in death.
Here’s what doctors and scientists have pieced together about how the coronavirus kills.
Destruction of the lungs
As the virus starts to destroy the lungs, “people become unable to breathe properly,” Yang said.
Even worse, the body’s efforts to fight the virus can cause inflammation in the lungs making breathing even more difficult.
Blood vessels damaged in the war between the virus and immune system may begin leaking fluid into lung tissues, which can be visible as white spots on chest X-rays.
The fluid may drown some of the lung’s tiny air sacs, preventing them from delivering oxygen to the blood and removing carbon dioxide. It is this kind of inflammation and destruction that is called pneumonia.
Breathing problems
The analysis of patients in China reported that severely ill patients suffered from symptoms like shortness of breath and low levels of oxygen in the blood. Chest X-rays and CT scans of the lungs showed most of the organs covered in fluid.
Some of the severely ill were taking more than 30 breaths a minute — well above the normal rate of 12 to 20 breaths per minute.
Attack on the kidneys
The lungs aren’t the only target. The coronavirus also has the ability to latch on to, hijack and destroy cells of the kidneys, Yang said.
The kidneys play an essential role in removing waste from the blood. When they fail, toxic levels of waste can pile up in the body.
Respiratory failure
Patients are considered critically ill if they can no longer breathe on their own.
If this happens, patients are fitted with special masks that deliver very high concentrations of purified oxygen into the mouth, or they can be put on a ventilator, Yang said. This involves placing a tube into the throat so the machine can push oxygen directly into the lungs.
Multiple organ dysfunction or failure
If the disease progresses, organs can start failing. This could be the result of the virus’ direct attack, as with the lungs and kidneys, or because of septic shock.
#Covid19 #Coronavirus, #Kill, #Its, #Victims, #Howcoronaviruskillitsvictims #Coronaviruskill, #Coronaviruskillpeoples, #Coronaviruskillingchinese, #Coronaviruskillseveryone221
The ways in which people die from COVID-19 are actually quite similar to the way people can die from the flu — even though influenza viruses are very different from coronaviruses.
One possible explanation for this is that children have less-developed immune systems, he said. In this case, an immature immune system might prevent the body from triggering inflammation severe enough to result in pneumonia, septic shock and multiple organ failure.
Comments
Post a Comment