3 ms·

I think GP was wondering why the flu was so deadly per person rather than how it racked up a huge body count. The article explains the body count but not why an

I think GP was wondering why the flu was so deadly per person rather than how it racked up a huge body count. The article explains the body count but not why any particular person would die at a higher rate than another strain of flu.

gambiting 7y ago
It does as well - to quote directly from article: "Not only was it shocking that healthy young men and women were dying by the millions worldwide, but it was also how they were dying. Struck with blistering fevers, nasal hemorrhaging and pneumonia, the patients would drown in their own fluid-filled lungs. Only decades later were scientists able explain the phenomenon now known as “cytokine explosion.” When the human body is being attacked by a virus, the immune system sends messenger proteins called cytokines to promote helpful inflammation. But some strains of the flu, particularly the H1N1 strain responsible for the Spanish flu outbreak, can trigger a dangerous immune overreaction in healthy individuals. In those cases, the body is overloaded with cytokines leading to severe inflammation and the fatal buildup of fluid in the lungs."
- porker 7y ago
  Do we now have drugs to suppress a "cytokine explosion" so if a virus mutates to do this again, we can reduce the number of deaths?
  - gambiting 7y ago
    Yes, we have drugs which reduce the effectiveness of the immune system, preventing this from happening. Of course you don't want to weaken the immune system too much, it's a difficult balance to strike I'm sure.
    - throwanem 7y ago
      This is false. Clinical management of the syndrome is purely supportive. There is ongoing work toward a variety of possible treatments - cytokine release syndrome can also result from a garden-variety flu, and as a side effect of some other therapies - but there's nothing outside an early experimental stage thus far.

3 ms·

I think GP was wondering why the flu was so deadly per person rather than how it racked up a huge body count. The article explains the body count but not why an

by fnord123 7y ago

gambiting 7y ago
It does as well - to quote directly from article: "Not only was it shocking that healthy young men and women were dying by the millions worldwide, but it was also how they were dying. Struck with blistering fevers, nasal hemorrhaging and pneumonia, the patients would drown in their own fluid-filled lungs. Only decades later were scientists able explain the phenomenon now known as “cytokine explosion.” When the human body is being attacked by a virus, the immune system sends messenger proteins called cytokines to promote helpful inflammation. But some strains of the flu, particularly the H1N1 strain responsible for the Spanish flu outbreak, can trigger a dangerous immune overreaction in healthy individuals. In those cases, the body is overloaded with cytokines leading to severe inflammation and the fatal buildup of fluid in the lungs."
- porker 7y ago
  Do we now have drugs to suppress a "cytokine explosion" so if a virus mutates to do this again, we can reduce the number of deaths?
  - gambiting 7y ago
    Yes, we have drugs which reduce the effectiveness of the immune system, preventing this from happening. Of course you don't want to weaken the immune system too much, it's a difficult balance to strike I'm sure.
    - throwanem 7y ago
      This is false. Clinical management of the syndrome is purely supportive. There is ongoing work toward a variety of possible treatments - cytokine release syndrome can also result from a garden-variety flu, and as a side effect of some other therapies - but there's nothing outside an early experimental stage thus far.