COVID has been around for three years and continues to evolve as the world lives with a new normal. Thousands of individuals died from it, and here's how it kills one.
How Does COVID Kill You?
According to the World Health Organization, COVID-19 is relatively mild in 80% of cases. The first symptoms of COVID-19 are common with respiratory illnesses like fever, shortness of breath, and dry cough. Some also experience headaches and sore throat, according to Dr. Carlos del Rio, a professor of medicine and global health at Emory University. Del Rio has consulted with colleagues in treating coronavirus patients in China and Germany.
There have also been reports of fatigue and, less frequently, diarrhea. You might feel as though you're cold-sick. Alternatively, you can have a sensation akin to being struck by a train.
About 20% of individuals may get more severe infections due to the novel coronavirus attacking their lungs. According to Columbia University Irving Medical Center infectious illness specialist Dr. Yoko Furuya, once the virus enters lung cells, it proliferates and kills them.
Our immune system attempts to limit and regulate the virus and prevent it from replicating itself because our body interprets all of those viruses as foreign invaders. However, per Furuya, the immune system's reaction to this invader can also result in inflammation and lung tissue destruction. Pneumonia may develop as a consequence. Breathing becomes more complicated when the lungs' air sacs swell and fill with fluid.
According to Del Rio, these symptoms may impede the lungs' ability to supply oxygen to your blood, which could set off a chain reaction of issues. The lack of oxygen leads to more health complications, the expert added, noting that inflammation and other issues within the body increase, and the kidney and liver will perish.
The most severe cases, which affected about six percent of the patients, ended up in intensive care, with the individuals suffering from multi-organ failure, respiratory failure, and septic shock, according to the World Health Organization in a report in February.
COVID More Fatal To These People
The cases of COVID fatality rate rise in people in their 60s. For example, the case fatality rate in Lombardy for individuals in their 60s is close to 3%. For those in their 70s, it is approximately 10 percent, and for those in their 80s, it is over 16 percent.
Additionally, individuals with Neanderthal genes are also at higher risk of developing deadly genes.
Italian researchers found that people with three variations of the Neanderthal gene were twice as likely to acquire severe pneumonia and three times more likely to require hospitalization on ventilators after contracting the virus. People can find out how much Neanderthal DNA they have using commercial ancestry tests, even though the results originated from an experiment.
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