It is known that 80 to 90 percent of those infected with coronavirus carry it easily, while in 10-20 percent of patients, on the contrary, the disease is severe. To better understand why this is happening, scientists from the laboratory of Richard Flavell of Yale University conducted several experiments on mice. At the same time, it is important that the researchers managed to “humanize” the mice, that is, to make their immune system similar to that of a human. All results obtained were published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
The study found that the cause of the severe form of coronavirus may lie in the body’s antiviral inflammatory response to the virus itself. In addition, if we talk about two popular methods of treating infection (using antibodies or taking the steroid “Dexamethasone”), they are most effective at different stages of the disease. Antibodies early, steroid late.
