Why We Each Respond to COVID-19 So Uniquely
A large multi-disciplinary study of COVID-19 patients
Just in time for Christmas, we now have two vaccines approved in the US against COVID-19. Yet, the question remains, why does each person respond so differently to the infection, from complete apparent health in some to rapid deterioration and death in others? Since it will take most of 2021 and perhaps longer to immunize the US, and just as importantly, even longer to immunize the rest of the world, we still need to understand this variability, perhaps as a way to prioritize who gets the vaccine.
Our individual immune responses to COVID-19
One of the puzzles from the start of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic is the tremendous variability in how people respond to infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Some people, though confirmed with the virus, are asymptomatic and report no effects at all. Others recall it being no worse than a cold or mild flu. Some were floored by a powerful illness that seriously disabled them. And some quickly succumbed and died. Why is that?
When a person is infected by a pathogen like a bacteria or virus and reports no illness, despite the lack of symptoms, there is actually a lot going on under the hood. One reason a patient might remain…
