4 ms·

I want to know why they never fully investigate why there is such a disparity of outcomes between people who catch SARS2. One can say obesity, but what does th

• simonh 5y ago
  >I want to know why they never fully investigate why there is such a disparity of outcomes between people who catch SARS2. It's been, and is being very intensively investigated. We know an awful lot about some aspects of it, but the factors that lead to different immune system responses are very difficult to figure out despite many decades of research into the mechanisms. In the first instance, the specific sites and pathways in the body the virus initially infects and propagates through make a big difference. It might initially infect the nasal passage, throat, lungs or even the nervous system. Even the specific sites in those areas and the initial viral load make a big difference to the progression of the disease. As the infection spreads the many, many different combinations of which systems in the body are infected, in what order, how severely and in combination with what stages in the immune response, together with the weaknesses and strengths of different systems in an individual leads to a massive explosion in the number of possible different scenarios and hence likely outcomes. A big problem though is our limited understanding of the various failure modes of the immune system, or at least in our ability to manage it. Inflamation is our immune system causing collateral damage to our own bodies. There are many, many diseases related to this and they can all be extremely difficult to treat.
  • podgaj 5y ago
    > the factors that lead to different immune system responses are very difficult to figure out despite many decades of research into the mechanisms. I totally disagree with this. It is not difficult, they are ignoring it. Zinc deficiency is a well known risk for immunological dysfunction, yet where is all the zinc testing and research during this pandemic? https://www.nature.com/articles/1601479 https://www.nature.com/articles/1601479 https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.nutr.24.012003.132454 https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.nutr.2... And Why is all this not front page news? https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214540021001420 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221454002... https://sljch.sljol.info/articles/abstract/10.4038/sljch.v50i4.9852/ https://sljch.sljol.info/articles/abstract/10.4038/sljch.v50... https://wjpr.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/article_issue/800cc2db1c7b4f8227949f8847486e64.pdf https://wjpr.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/article_issue/800cc... https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/zinc-deficiency-as-a-possible-risk-factor-for-increased-susceptibility-and-severe-progression-of-covid19/B0292641A1388E2F55EC590287A21774 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-n...
    • simonh 5y ago
      The correlation, if it exists, is marginal and there's even some reason to suspect there's a slight negative correlation. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.699389/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.6993... I have an aunt who's adamantly ant-vax. She goes on and on about how we should all be 'boosting our immune systems' to naturally protect us against the virus. The fact is there's no such thing as boosting a naturally healthy immune system. You can mitigate deficiencies to strengthen a compromised immune system, yes, but load up excessively on supplements and such and you can quickly end up suffering from toxicities to no measurable advantage. Nutrition is best left to being managed by doctors and nutritionists using the established health service mechanisms for that discipline (well, here in the UK anyway). Nutrition may well play an important role for individuals based on their specific needs, but it's just not at all appropriate to push it as a mitigation at a population level. For the vast majority of people it's either a complete distraction or could even do more harm than good. People need specific guidance based on their health circumstances - if there even are any significant benefits at all which isn't even entirely clear.