# Any new news on why this is severe/lethal to some, and not others? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [April 21, 2020, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273 "2020-04-21T16:22:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/21 "2020-04-22T15:39:59Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > …While I have seen nothing definitive on that topic taking Vitamin D supplements–which are a general immune system booster anyway–is certainly an easy lifestyle modification to make with essentially no downside as long as you don’t exceed the [maximum recommended dosage](https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/). > > Stranger Yeah, I’ve been taking vitamins C and D for the last few weeks. There’s no compelling evidence either helps, but both might be helpful. And both are extremely well-studied and are very safe to take in ordinary doses. And hey, placebos help, too! Right? > [@Riemann](#): > > A prominent innate source of variation in immune response is the Major Histocompatibility Complex, aka Human Leukocyte Antigen - google **MHC haplotype** or **HLA haplotype**. > … > But the MHC system is much smarter than this. It uses what amounts to encryption, where the encryption key that scrambles the shape of a protein is the MHC allele. > … Thanks for this description! That was very interesting, and makes a ton of sense. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/22 "2020-04-22T21:25:04Z")
Blood clots appear to be turning up in a lot of severe cases, perhaps some variation in clotting function will turn out to be a factor. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/23 "2020-04-22T21:52:51Z")
Air pollution might also be a factor. Might be correlation not causality but it’s true that most of the hot spots are (were, now) unusually polluted. I just looked at the Massachusetts stats for the day (it is running over 200 deaths a day) that the Globe breaks down by age and sex. It’s running about even on sex but age, whew. The over-80 group makes up about half of all the deaths. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/24 "2020-04-23T00:32:36Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Blood clots appear to be turning up in a lot of severe cases, perhaps some variation in clotting function will turn out to be a factor. [Good article on that](https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/a-mysterious-blood-clotting-complication-is-killing-coronavirus-patients/ar-BB1336g0). ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/25 "2020-04-25T12:09:49Z")
> [@](#): > > The virus spreads around the body for days or weeks in a sort of stealth mode, taking over host cells while evading the immune response. It can take a week or two for the body to fully recognize the extent to which it has been overwhelmed. At this point, its reaction is often not calm and measured. The immune system goes into a hyperreactive state, pulling all available alarms to mobilize the body’s defense mechanisms. This is when people suddenly crash. This has always been my bone of contention, when you tell people to go home and do nothing. Instead of treating symptoms, which you can through inhalers and such, you are allowing it to get so worse, it may be too late by the time aid is rendered. I know in Germany they aggressively treat the symptoms, which MAY be a reason why the death rate is less. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/26 "2020-04-25T18:36:35Z")
What sort of treatment? My understanding was that there’s not much that actually helps. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/27 "2020-04-25T20:35:27Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Yeah, I’ve been taking vitamins C and D for the last few weeks. There’s no compelling evidence either helps, but both might be helpful. And both are extremely well-studied and are very safe to take in ordinary doses. And hey, placebos help, too! Right? It isn’t going to do any harm as long as you stay within recommended daily dose guidelines. It is pretty much impossible to overdose on Vitamin C because it is water soluble (although I wouldn’t go consuming an family-sizedentire bag of Emergen-C in one go) and while Vitamin D is fat soluble studies have been done showing that taking 500% of recommended guidelines for a couple of weeks does not produce adverse effects. Even if they doesn’t do anything in particular to protect against COVID-19, most people are deficient in Vitamins C and D anyway, and they are both immune system boosters. On the other hand, there is little real evidence that “megadosing” on vitamin supplements is of anyone’s benefit except for the pocketbooks of companies selling them, and in general the bioavailability of vitamins from food sources is higher than supplements, so you are better off eating some salmon and getting as much sunlight as you can (within reason) instead of maxing out your maximum recommended supplement dose. > [@Carryon](#): > > This has always been my bone of contention, when you tell people to go home and do nothing. Instead of treating symptoms, which you can through inhalers and such, you are allowing it to get so worse, it may be too late by the time aid is rendered. I know in Germany they aggressively treat the symptoms, which MAY be a reason why the death rate is less. I assume you are referring to albuterol/salbutamol, which is commonly used for people with asthma from severe allergies or exercise response and those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to relax the airway and allow more airflow. However, there is little reason to believe that this will work to counteract the root cause of COVID-19 patients since it appears that inflammation of the alveoli tissues and blood clotting preventing perfusion through the capillary endothelial membrane. If the alveoli cannot exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide, it doesn’t matter how much air can get to to the lungs. [And there is a growing problem with shortages of albuterol for those who need it to treat pre-existing conditions](https://community.aafa.org/blog/albuterol-inhaler-shortage-due-to-covid-19-could-impact-people-with-asthma), so unless you already have a condition for which it is prescribed, please don’t call up your doctor and ask for a prescription lest you deprive it to someone who needs it to function or live. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/28 "2020-04-25T20:38:36Z")
It is trivially easy to come up with guesses, some that even make sense. It is harder to show which of these guesses actually is true. One of my favorites is a very simple one: fairly recent and frequent exposure to the other human coronaviruses may give some high enough non-specific coronavirus antibody to blunt the disease while a better cellular response mounts. It fits with kids (who have the most frequency and recency of the common cold causing coronaviruses) getting very mild disease in general. Another hypothesis is based on the [variations of ACE2 receptor expression and regulation](https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202003.0191/v1) which varies by individual and with age and gender. Lots of guesses to make … I do think that understanding why kids are so rarely seriously impacted will be a big clue to understanding why those who are more severely impacted are. The lack of what protects kids may why those who are sickest are so sick. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/29 "2020-04-25T20:39:50Z")
Duplicate post. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/30 "2020-04-25T21:16:23Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > It isn’t going to do any harm as long as you stay within recommended daily dose guidelines. It is pretty much impossible to overdose on Vitamin C because it is water soluble (although I wouldn’t go consuming an family-sizedentire bag of Emergen-C in one go) and while Vitamin D is fat soluble studies have been done showing that taking 500% of recommended guidelines for a couple of weeks does not produce adverse effects. Yes, of course. I am taking one pill a day of each, pills which are designed to be taken daily and which have large (but safe) doses. My doctor actually prescribed this dose of D a few years ago, when I randomly tested low. And as you say, it’s pretty hard to overdose on vitamin C. > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Even if they doesn’t do anything in particular to protect against COVID-19, most people are deficient in Vitamins C and D anyway, and they are both immune system boosters. On the other hand, there is little real evidence that “megadosing” on vitamin supplements is of anyone’s benefit except for the pocketbooks of companies selling them, and in general the bioavailability of vitamins from food sources is higher than supplements, so you are better off eating some salmon and getting as much sunlight as you can (within reason) instead of maxing out your maximum recommended supplement dose. Yeah. I am trying to get sunlight on my skin since that’s almost certainly better. And I’m taking my pills with food, because as best as I can tell, it’s easier to absorb vitamins when they are mixed with food. And none of this might matter. But it makes me feel like I’m doing _something_, and I’m pretty sure it’s safe. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/31 "2020-04-25T22:57:32Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > It is trivially easy to come up with guesses, some that even make sense. It is harder to show which of these guesses actually is true. > > One of my favorites is a very simple one: fairly recent and frequent exposure to the other human coronaviruses may give some high enough non-specific coronavirus antibody to blunt the disease while a better cellular response mounts. It fits with kids (who have the most frequency and recency of the common cold causing coronaviruses) getting very mild disease in general. > > Another hypothesis is based on the [variations of ACE2 receptor expression and regulation](https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202003.0191/v1) which varies by individual and with age and gender. > > Lots of guesses to make … I do think that understanding why kids are so rarely seriously impacted will be a big clue to understanding why those who are more severely impacted are. The lack of what protects kids may why those who are sickest are so sick. As an ER nurse, I hope that my generic Corona sp. protection is good. I know there have been ER workers that’ve succumbed, but I’d be curious to see a breakdown of severity among healthcare workers by specialty. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/32 "2020-04-25T23:58:01Z")
Then there’s this > [@](#): > > Smokers ‘four times less likely’ to contract Covid-19, prompting nicotine patch trials on patients > **[Smokers 'four times less likely' to contract Covid-19, prompting nicotine...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/23/smokers-four-times-less-likely-contract-covid-19-prompting-nicotine/)** > > Researchers in France will test nicotine patches on health workers and patients but reiterated smoking could also cause more severe illness ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2020, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/33 "2020-04-27T14:50:25Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > It is trivially easy to come up with guesses, some that even make sense. It is harder to show which of these guesses actually is true. > > One of my favorites is a very simple one: fairly recent and frequent exposure to the other human coronaviruses may give some high enough non-specific coronavirus antibody to blunt the disease while a better cellular response mounts. It fits with kids (who have the most frequency and recency of the common cold causing coronaviruses) getting very mild disease in general. If this is the case then my spouse and I are in good shape, as we inevitably get whatever the kids bring home 😛 (And they bring everything home!) …actually, so, shouldn’t this be true in general? If kids are getting more mild disease in general, I’d expect adults with small kids in daycare (otherwise known as petri dish) to be generally getting milder cases than adults with older kids or no kids. Is there any way to test/survey this? (Also, vested interest in this question. For the past three weeks kids and I have had something very mild, with very low-grade intermittent fever, chills and aches at the beginning; one child has a cough and had a couple of days of shortness of breath. It’s been really weird, though, because a) three weeks?? b) the fever has been very intermittent, like, peaking for a couple of hours and then going down again without drugs, and going away entirely for a day or two and then coming back again, c) where would it have come from?? We’ve been under lockdown for almost five weeks! I’ve been assuming that maybe we’re just trading mutant cold viruses or something because I would have assumed one of the four of us would have gotten more than extremely mild symptoms. (Spouse is completely asymptomatic.) But maybe it’s covid-19 and extremely (extremely!) frequent contact with 5-year-old’s coronaviruses from daycare has protected us from anything worse??) ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2020, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273/34 "2020-04-27T16:07:06Z")
I feel like that can’t be the complete reason kids seem so safe from this, though it may well be a factor. Young children seem to be almost immune to serious symptoms, across the board. They can’t have THAT complete exposure while adults have so little. They aren’t all in daycare, all over the world. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-new-news-on-why-this-is-severe-lethal-to-some-and-not-others/852273.md?page=1)