4 ms·
Other coronaviruses can infect the nervous system. In fact, there were papers out in 2018 describing neural infections by "human coronavirus". Cytokine storms
by lbeltrame 6y ago
Other coronaviruses can infect the nervous system. In fact, there were papers out in 2018 describing neural infections by "human coronavirus".
Cytokine storms and their associated effects (like clotting ,etc.) are also present with other viral infections, like with the original Spanish Flu H1N1 strain (during the infamous "second wave").
"Regular" pneumonia can severely weaken you for months or a year, even if you have antibiotics.
This virus is absolutely not a magic virus. It is novel, but it is still a coronavirus.
- pvaldes 6y agoThe problems could be related with the fact that pangolins have an unique and strange immune system. Reduced in comparison with most other mammals (but I'm speculating...)
- AstralStorm 6y agoThis virus definitely looks as if it had ample time to adapt to human host. Just many early cases were probably undetected or misattributed.
- lbeltrame 6y agoImmune systems are fairly differentiated across species, even for common mechanisms. Source: I worked from 2009 to 2011 in a project aiming at reconstructing part of these mechanisms in certain immune cells, and the differences between human and mice, where some models were made, were significant.
- jsight 6y agoMy frustration with articles like this is that they fail to point this out adequately. These problems are significant on their own, but they do not necessarily warrant this virus being treated differently from others. The things that warrant the separate treatment are still the high death rate, high hospitalization rate, and potential for large spread across a population with little existing immunity.