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Keystone
![The severe course in young people with corona is related to the immune system.]()
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The severe course in young people with corona is related to the immune system.
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imago images/MIS
![An erroneous reaction in the early stages of the disease leads to a chain of events.]()
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An erroneous reaction in the early stages of the disease leads to a chain of events.
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Keystone
![Jakob Nilsson, senior physician at the Institute for Immunology at the University Hospital Zurich, is conducting studies on this.]()
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Jakob Nilsson, senior physician at the Institute for Immunology at the University Hospital Zurich, is conducting studies on this.
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keystone-sda.ch
![This means that the body can react too late to the virus in the body. A certain genetic defect is responsible for this.]()
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This means that the body can react too late to the virus in the body. A certain genetic defect is responsible for this.
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The answer to why some young people get seriously ill with Covid-19 seems to lie in the immune system, according to new studies. In young, severely affected people, it does not react properly to the virus in the body in the initial phase.
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Everyone has an innate immune defense. This reacts to viruses entering the body. However, young people who have a severe corona disease process have an incorrect reaction.
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More precisely: not enough messenger substances, so-called interferons, are released. These are intended to warn the body of the danger of the virus. “We see a clear interferon signal in people who have a mild course already in the early phase,” says Jakob Nilsson, senior physician at the Institute for Immunology at the University Hospital Zurich “Tages-Anzeiger”.
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The body reacts too weakly to the virus at first – then too violently
Young people who are seriously ill with the coronavirus, on the other hand, only have a weak interferon signal in the early phase. This means that the body can react too late to the virus in the body.
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In severe cases, the immune system will overreact violently as the disease progresses. As a result, an inflammatory reaction starts in the body that can hardly be targeted – and can be life-threatening. The immune system reacts too slowly at first – and then too violently to the virus.
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Cases of seriously ill pairs of brothers analyzed
In the event of a fatal outcome, genes also play a key role. Dutch researchers have analyzed the course of the disease in two pairs of brothers, as reported by the “Tages-Anzeiger”. A 32-year-old had no previous illnesses other than a chronic cold.
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Nevertheless, he had to be ventilated because of his Covid 19 disease. Only after 16 days did his condition slowly improve. However, the course of his 29-year-old brother’s illness ends fatally. He came to the hospital with severe fever attacks, where he died although he had no previous illnesses.
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A second pair of brothers (21, 23) are also very healthy before being infected with the coronavirus. Nevertheless, the disease is life-threatening. Both had to be ventilated. The condition of the two improved slowly.
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The Dutch scientists took a closer look at the genes that control the innate immune system in men. The same defect was found in both pairs of brothers. This is responsible for the fatal outcome of the disease, as the scientists explained in the journal “Journal of the American Medical Association”.
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Gene defect responsible for particularly severe course
All four have a faulty copy of what is known as the TLR7 gene. This gene codes for a protein that viruses, such as the coronavirus, are supposed to recognize in the body. As a result, the innate immune system should be alerted.
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If the said genetic defect is present, the body is not adequately warned after it has been infected with the coronavirus. However, this also applies to other viruses. The immunologist Nilsson says to the “Tages-Anzeiger”: “A viral infectious disease other than Covid-19 could have hit the brothers hard.” (euc)
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