‘Autoantibodies’ may be driving severe Covid cases – Guardian
– “Researchers at Yale University found that Covid-19 patients had large numbers of misguided antibodies in their blood that targeted the organs, tissues and the immune system itself, rather than fighting off the invading virus.
– The scientists compared immune responses in patients and uninfected people and discovered scores of aberrant antibodies in the former. These blocked antiviral defences, wiped out helpful immune cells, and attacked the body on multiple fronts, from the brain, blood vessels and liver to connective tissue and the gastrointestinal tract.
[…]
– Ring said that if Covid-19 autoantibodies endure in the body they might play a part in long Covid. “Post-Covid syndromes could plausibly be caused by long-lived autoantibodies that persist well after the virus is cleared from the body,” he said. “If this is the case, there are immunosuppressive treatments, such as those used for rheumatological diseases, that could be effective.” Long Covid is thought to affect about 10% of 18- to 49-year-olds, rising to one in five among the over-70s.”
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This is another reason I think wrong to concentrate only upon mortality rates – the denialists and trivialisers mention nothing but the mortality rate, doing everything they can to minimise it and cast doubt upon the statistics, and of course repeatedly reminding us that covid mostly kills the old, as if that makes it OK.
Conversely, the denialists and trivialisers never mention long term effects upon people in the prime of life, and never mention the mortal suffering that would ensue from healthcare systems becoming overloaded – except to pretend that it wouldn’t happen, of course.