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Re: Coronavirus. Are you buying the hype?
It's a partially true statement.
In a typical epidemic, influenza disproportionately kills the weak, the young and the aged.
The H1N1 pandemics of 1917-1918 (aka the "Spanish Flu") are unusual in that many of those who died were young people with health immune systems (although in the case of some of the European victims, it could be argued that wartime conditions and immune systems that had been weakened by malnutrition may have also been a factor). A more accurate statement would be to say that the "Spanish flu killed a disproportionate number of the otherwise strong and healthy".
The autopsies that were performed on the soldiers who died at US army bases early in the epidemic found organs, particularly lungs, that were bruised, partially necrotic and overwhelmed with fluid. Most were ultimately killed by pneumonia and ARDS. Because this was a virus that most of the younger victims had never been exposed to, it triggered an unusual immune cascade that caused the person's immune system to attack their own body- a lethal cascade of pneumonia, sepsis, ARDS, DIC and other disorders.
This article provides some interesting theories about why the 1917-1918 pandemic was unusual:
Age-Specific Mortality During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Unraveling the Mystery of High Young Adult Mortality [NIH]
Telstra said:
It's a partially true statement.
In a typical epidemic, influenza disproportionately kills the weak, the young and the aged.
The H1N1 pandemics of 1917-1918 (aka the "Spanish Flu") are unusual in that many of those who died were young people with health immune systems (although in the case of some of the European victims, it could be argued that wartime conditions and immune systems that had been weakened by malnutrition may have also been a factor). A more accurate statement would be to say that the "Spanish flu killed a disproportionate number of the otherwise strong and healthy".
The autopsies that were performed on the soldiers who died at US army bases early in the epidemic found organs, particularly lungs, that were bruised, partially necrotic and overwhelmed with fluid. Most were ultimately killed by pneumonia and ARDS. Because this was a virus that most of the younger victims had never been exposed to, it triggered an unusual immune cascade that caused the person's immune system to attack their own body- a lethal cascade of pneumonia, sepsis, ARDS, DIC and other disorders.
This article provides some interesting theories about why the 1917-1918 pandemic was unusual:
Age-Specific Mortality During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Unraveling the Mystery of High Young Adult Mortality [NIH]
