IN SEARCH OF IMMUNITY

WHY IS COVID-19 ABLE TO AFFECT PEOPLE SO DIFFERENTLY?

The wide range of outcomes of being infected with COVID-19-from showing no symptoms at all, to rashes, severe respiratory illness and death - reflects the huge variation found in people’s immune systems. How the immune system responds to a virus such as SARS-CoV-2 is influenced by many factors, from our genes and general health to the other pathogens we’ve encountered in the past.

With COVID-19, there seems to be a critical period during which the immune system either mounts a protective response, stifling the virus and slowing its spread in the body, or a dysfunctional, inflammatory response, where the body starts to attack itself.

As part of a healthy immune reaction, local white blood cells recognise the virus as foreign and release chemicals called cytokines. These molecules help direct and amplify the body’s immune response, which can limit the spread of the virus and kill off infected cells. But the release of too many cytokines in a short period can start to cause collateral damage to healthy cells. In critical cases of COVID-19, the acute lung problems that are characteristic of the disease are caused by a ‘cytokine storm’ - a dangerous runaway overreaction of the immune system that creates even more inflammation and tissue damage than the virus.

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