The coronavirus infects our fat cells and the immune cells in our adipose tissue. This is apparent from new research that should explain why fat people more often end up in IC with corona.
People who are severely overweight or obese are much more likely to become seriously ill from corona than people with a healthy weight. This can only partly be explained by underlying conditions such as diabetes. That is why scientists suspect that weight itself also has an influence.
Researchers from Stanford University and colleagues from Germany and Switzerland decided to infect fatty tissue from patients undergoing weight surgery with the coronavirus. The fat cells themselves were not seriously inflamed, but certain immune cells in the adipose tissue did cause a severe inflammatory response.
The researchers also looked at overweight deceased corona patients. They discovered a lot of virus in the fat around the organs. The scientists state that the coronavirus can evade the defense mechanism of our fat cells and use the fat as a reservoir, just like the HIV and flu virus, for example.
The scientists believe that this mechanism not only plays a role in the development of severe Covid, but can also lead to lung Covid. The study is already online, but has not yet been verified.
