With uncertainty and risk surrounding the Coronavirus outbreak, it's more important now than ever to understand the complexities of the human immune system. Author and Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Matt Richtel, author of the book AN ELEGANT DEFENSE: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System (now in paperback), can discuss in depth the current Covid-19 situation, including: · How our immune system responds to viruses like this one
Doctors, like immunologist Anthony Fauci (who Richtel interviews in the book), are now trying to understand what is happening with the immune response to COVID-19. One apparently common area between this virus and the flu is that doctors see an initial spike in immune cells, called lymphocytes. Then, curiously, there appears to be a sharp drop off, particularly in those who are older. Why would the immune system wane in older people? All systems seem to degrade over time. More specifically, the immune system can lose balance over time, almost like an elderly gymnast trying to walk a balance beam. This is also why people with underlying conditions are at risk. They have tasked their immune systems such that the defenders in the body either over-react or under-react and thereby disrupt the most delicate balance going on in the lungs.
· The delicate relationship between the immune system and the lungs
COVID-19 is a lung infection at its core. And lung infections present our immune system with a mega-challenge. Why? The lungs must be very absorbent to take oxygen in through air sacs and get it to the body and brain. Otherwise: instant death. The immune system walks the finest balance here - needing to allow particles inside so we don't die, but also must react quickly to protect this delicate tissue. Sometimes, the immune response is a touch off balance, and it can be catastrophic. Therefore many of the deaths in the ICU that appear caused by pneumonia or respiratory disease are actually caused by a flooding of the lungs of immune cells. The disease provokes the immune system and it reacts with excessive zeal.
· The danger of COVID-19's slow onset
One powerful observation coming out of the medical community regards the slow onset of the virus. We get a little sick, mild illness that hangs around, then intensifies and intensifies. It's as if your immune system gets swamped, and then the lungs flooded with disease to the point where you cannot breathe. This stands in contrast to some viruses, where our immune system kicks in. This suggests a couple of things. That we have zero built in immunity as a population to this germ (Richtel can talk about why this is and what it really means when the human immune system encounters something new). And why people, when sick, need to so stringently follow the science about supporting their immune system.
· You must try to keep your immune system in balance
Richtel can elaborate on how to do this - through sleep, exercise, and nutrition. He also warns against trying to "boost" your immune system, and can explain why products that claim to do that likely won't work anyways.