news-date">April 23, 2020
American experts warn that the virus can also pose a threat to some younger people. According to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this has been observed since the onset of the outbreak in the United States.
In mid-March, the CDC reported that patients aged 20-64 years accounted for 20% of all COVID-19 deaths, although recent CDC statistics indicate that the number may be in the 10% range. In any case, the risk for young Americans is considerable.
Possible reasons for serious progress in young people
It is impossible to state the reasons for this now, warned Prof. Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, from the Department of Pulmonology and Intensive Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “I want to emphasize that this is a new virus and that we continue to learn more and more about it through our day-to-day experiences,” he said. “And that means that everything you hear today can be completely different until tomorrow.” So far, the main cause of a serious course of the disease in all patients, young and old, seems to be an immune system that overreacts. An immune system in full swing can cause a ‘cytokine storm’, ”explained Galiatsatos.
When that happens, the immune system continues to work, even if it is already damaging your own body – right up to death. “If you view your immune system as an orchestra, the more harmonious it plays, the better the result,” he said. The immune system has to work ‘precisely dosed’ to keep us healthy without causing disease itself. If the immune system reacts chaotically and disorganized to the virus, not only the virus is attacked, but also the healthy cells. And even when young people’s immune systems are strong, COVID-19 can trigger acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in patients, a life-threatening situation in which so much fluid gets into the lungs that breathing becomes practically impossible. ARDS is the reason that COVID-19 patients of all ages have to go to the intensive care unit.
Source: HealthDay, medicalXpress
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