Scientists at Northwestern University in the United States have named the main reason that makes pneumonia caused by coronavirus more dangerous than pneumonia caused by bacterial and other viral infections. This is reported in an article published in the journal Nature.
It turned out that SARS-CoV-2 does not infect large areas of lung tissue, but penetrates into many small areas. The coronavirus then hijacks immune cells in the lungs and uses them to spread, which takes many days or even weeks. At the same time, the infection damages tissue and contributes to fever, low blood pressure, and disruption of the kidneys, heart, brain and other organs.
According to the authors of the study, dangerous complications in COVID-19 are associated precisely with the long course of the disease, and not with its severity.
Scientists have also identified major drug targets for the treatment of coronavirus pneumonia. They turned out to be immune cells such as macrophages and T cells. Northwestern Medicine plans to test an experimental drug in patients with COVID-related pneumonia in early 2021. The agent should suppress the inflammatory reactions associated with the activity of macrophages and start repair processes in the damaged lungs.