Scientists are now doubting their long-held hypothesis that covid-19 deaths and hospitalization are being triggered by an overreaction of an agent of the human immune system. They noted that, although some patients are experiencing the overreaction, most covid-19 deaths and hospitalization may not be caused by it.
Covid-19 deaths and hospitalizations probabilities on different demographics of people continue to intrigue medical researchers. To date, what causes some patients, when infected with the virus, to develop lung injuries, struggling to breathe and effects on other organs have intrigued scientists since the pandemic began.
Cause of covid-19 deaths
However, a hypothesis that emerged early in the pandemic that indicated that cytokine storms could be behind these unexplained circumstances is now raising doubts. Scientists thought that the agent of the human immune system contributed to whether a person ended up in the hospital or even, in some extreme cases, death.
This made perfect sense, especially considering that people who died from coronavirus were sometimes found to have little or no traces of Covid-19. This is because cytokine storms would produce an immune system response against the disease. Sometimes it would succeed in defeating the virus, however, this resulted in excessive release of the immune system agent, which led to lung inflammations and injuries that contributed to fatalities.
However, new research is shading light and casting doubt on the agent that causes the storms by claiming that it is not responsible for the immune system’s response. The research also explains that such storms might not be happening as the doctors believe they are, to covid-19 deaths.
Dr. Randy Cron, a pediatrics and medicine professor at the University of Alabama, agreed that although some Covid-19 patients had cytokine storms overreactions, they were not identical to anything he had seen before. He continued by saying that a lot remained to be learned about the virus, months after it spread across the globe.
Featured image by Pixabay