Why does the coronavirus affect people differently? Yahoo News Explains
Last week the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus passed the 1 million milestone, and it continues to grow at an alarming rate. However, not all of these infections have presented themselves in the same way. Coronavirus patients are showing a wide range of symptoms and the exact reason why is still a mystery — but we do have some clues as to what factors can influence the severity of the disease.
Video Transcript
KATHRYN JACOBSEN: There are now over 1 million reported cases of the novel coronavirus worldwide, and the number keeps growing. But not all of these cases have presented themselves in the same way.
- Some patients say they lost their sense of smell and taste.
- I got hit with a fever and those [? wrygore's. ?]
- Loss of appetite, diarrhea, nausea.
- Ear problems and, note, sinus problems.
- I never really had any symptoms.
- But the symptoms are highly variable.
KATHRYN JACOBSEN: So why does the coronavirus affect people in such different ways? The basic premise is that humans are not machines. There are many factors that influence how our bodies react to pathogens. For coronavirus, two of those most important seem to be age and health status.
Age-- the way our bodies react to infections changes with age. Newborns are especially vulnerable to some types of infections. People of any age can get sick from coronavirus and die from it, but the coronavirus fatality rate is highest in older populations.
Comorbidities-- comorbidity means having two or more health problems at the same time. People with heart or lung disorders, diabetes, or other health problems may get sicker from coronavirus because of those underlying health issues. We don't yet know a lot about the other factors that specifically influence coronavirus disease, but it is likely that they include a combination of contributors such as tobacco use, immune system function, nutritional status, body chemistry, medications, and even genetics.
Individuals who are known to have higher than typical risk of hospitalization if they contract coronavirus like older adults and people with chronic health issues have been advised to take extra care to reduce their risk of exposure to the virus. That does not mean that people who are not in a high-risk group do not need to protect themselves. Many of the individuals who have been hospitalized with coronavirus and are relying on ventilators are young adults and middle-aged adults.
Many of those patients were leading active healthy lives before they became infected. Low risk does not mean no risk. Because it is impossible to know with certainty who will have mild symptoms if they become infected with coronavirus and who will develop severe or fatal disease, the safest option is for everyone to follow national, state, and local guidelines for coronavirus prevention.
