Covid scientists find a turning point in critical cases
When two brothers fell critically ill with Covid-19
around the same time in March, their doctors were baffled. Both were young — 29
and 31 years old — and healthy. Yet within days they couldn’t breathe on their
own and, tragically, one of them died.
Two weeks later, when a second pair of Covid-stricken brothers, both in their
20s, also appeared in the Netherlands, geneticists were called in to
investigate. What they uncovered was a path leading from severe cases, genetic
variations and gender differences to a loss of immune function that may
ultimately yield a new approach to treating thousands of coronavirus patients.
The common thread in the research is the lack of a substance called interferon
that helps orchestrate the body’s defence against viral pathogens and can be
infused to treat conditions such as infectious hepatitis. Now, increasing
evidence suggests that some Covid-19 patients get very ill because of an
impaired interferon response. Landmark studies published on Thursday in the
journal Science showed that insufficient interferon may lurk at a dangerous
turning point in SARS-CoV-2 infections.