Explained: What is causing deaths in Covid-19 patients?

Hello reader. I am the writer of this blog. I am sorry that I could not post any blog the previous week. So I will publish 2 blogs this week. 

Covid-19 is causing worldwide havoc. There has been a rise in the death rate too. But it is not caused by the disease. It is caused by the immune response. Let me explain.

Many people with co-morbidities have weak immunity. So, when they get infected with any disease, their immune system starts to panic and overreacts to the disease. This is called Cytokine Storm.

So what is a cytokine storm?

To understand it, we need to know how our immune system reacts to covid-19 infection.

During any infection, the immune system launches an immune response called the innate response. It is a natural response that releases cytokines, an important microscopic protein that acts as an alarm. They generate inflammation. Eventually, it releases a second wave of immune cells. This is called an adaptive response and its aim is to home in on the disease cell and the infected cells. It also contains T cells- cells that consume the disease cell. If the innate response comes early then the infection will be mild and you will recover soon.

             Normal Response                            Severe Response

However, sometimes the innate response (the blue line) arrives late. (as in fig 2) Then it has to catch up with the viral load (the yellow line). This makes the immune system panic and it overreacts and starts the cytokine storm. It orders all the infected and suspected cells to self destruct. When a lot of cells destruct, they cause multiorgan failure in lungs, kidneys etc.

Resulting in the death of the patient.

So how can it be stopped?

Studies have shown that people with Vitamin D deficiency are more likely to be susceptible to Cytokine Storm. Therefore Vitamin D sources like milk should be consumed more. In many cases of Cytokine Storm, Immunosuppressants ( also called steroids ) are given. They suppress the immune reaction and thus save the patient. Dexamethasone, an immunosuppressant has saved many lives.

Warning- Do not consume any immunosuppressant without consulting a doctor otherwise it will do more harm than good.

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PS- Next blog on Sunday!