COVID why do suffers have such different outcomes

PamelaJ1

sueDonim re. family members. Could it be something to do with lifestyle.
Families tend to have a similar diet, may smoke, etc. My family eat quite healthily, exercise regularly, don’t smoke. That gives us a head start.

I honestly don’t know! I know families who’ve all been exposed to CV yet only one person has developed symptoms and no one else had caught it from them, either.

It’s probably as mysterious as to why my brother never had any of the childhood diseases the rest of us four children got, apart from having Rubella. He didn’t even get chickenpox when his wife and two daughters all had it at the same time. If only they could bottle whatever is in his immune system.

I wish I could remember where I read that some scientists are studying findings that those who develop more severe symptoms have more mutations in the area of the genome that controls the immune response.

This is probably not the same article, but it's an interesting, albeit long, read:

www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-some-people-get-terribly-sick-from-covid-19/

My cousin's daughter was diagnosed with Covid Christmas day. She lives with him with her 6 year old son. Neither he nor his grandson got it. He said it was 10 days of hell. Luckily she was treated at home . She is 30 . My cousin is 56. Neither smoke or drink. Both keep fit. She works in a nursery 3 children tested positive for Covid and their parents still sent them and didn't tell anyone. No idea how many they infected. It's idiots like this is why numbers are rising. My brother worked with someone 2 of his cousins both in their 30's died from Covid. One was a runner and the other weightlifter. Both super fit very health conscious. Rest of the family didn't get it.

Like several of people have said scientists will find out why it affects some and not others. But like other diseases it takes time to research.

We just have to take precautions and have the vaccine when we are offered it. Some through medical reasons won't be able to have it. So those of us who can have need to do so too protect them. Mind you there will be the idiots who wouldn't have it because they are idiots

Off at a tangent hers but a large number of people catch Covid in hospital, both staff and patients. Its logical really. Large numbers of people, already unwell in close proximity, sharing facilities, many with dementia, no way of letting fresh air into the rooms. Hospital acquired infection has been around forever, Covid is just more obvious.

I was thinking yesterday about this very issue. Perhaps its time for new hospitals to be designed with single, or at most double rooms with its own loo/shower. The old nightingale wards were outdated, maybe its time to mothball the four and six bedded bays with communal facilities.

This would solved so many issues. Infection control, noise levels, privacy, confidentiality, dignity and so much more.

I had the misfortune to have an overnight stay in hospital following gall bladder surgery. Although the lights were dimmed, the level of activity was high. It was not something I would wish to repeat. We are in the 21st century in one of the richest nations in the world. Why are we still exposing so many vulnerable people to the risks of communal living?

Urmstongran

An over active immune system for one. Our daughter had (has) long Covid. Doctor told her this. She’s back at work now full time as a teacher since the NY and has just text ‘tired mum, which is to be expected but bit anxious again as chest ache back. Going to bed before 9pm’.

My daughter has long Covid too, and struggling through symptoms that seem to randomly appear around her body. The chest pain was a real worry, and she desperately tried to work out what aggravated it. Eventually GP diagnosed costochondritis which is inflammation of the sternum. Ibruprofen gel seemed to help , plus understanding that the breathing pain was the chest muscles and not the lungs.
She has started singing again on her choir zoom session!
Other symptoms are causing problems now.
I hope your daughter gets better soon.

It’s a very strange virus isn’t it, being neither wholly very dangerous nor wholly innocuous.

We already know that some groups of people are more susceptible to a bad outcome than others - certain ethnic groups, the overweight and of course older folk.

The amount of viral load has also been mentioned along with a lack of vitamin D, plus of course the much quoted ‘underlying conditions’.
Now we are hearing more about those who take longer to fully recover than others which can happen with other viral infections.

The nightly tv news can be very scary as they inevitably concentrate on the serious cases, but there is one fact which is the same today as it’s always been, and that is that the vast majority of people who contract Covid-19 make a full recovery.

I don't understand how you can claim that Covid isn't wholly dangerous. Death is fairly serious.

Even if the majority make a full recovery, there's still a lot of death. Assuming the "99.5% survival rate" number is correct (and it's almostcertainly higher), this translates to an Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) of 0.5%. If we just didn't suppress the virus, this would kill up to 300,000 people in a country the size of the UK.

Just going back to the BAME issue, growstuff. I’d be interested in your take on a couple of things.

Firstly, the BAME classification is far to wide for any meaningful research into genetic factors, because it encompasses many different ethnic groups. It’s a political classification really.

People that would be classified as BAME in Britain are not being affected by COVID in the same way throughout the world. Some African and Asian countries have fairly low rates of death per 100,000 of the population. I know this might be due to reporting techniques but their overall death rates don’t seem much higher than normal.

Any thoughts?

My point was that it’s not an automatic death sentence- far from it.

Yes of course I know that sadly a lot of folk have died but sad though that is, it’s only a small percentage of those who have had it and recovered.

I get as worried at the nightly news as anyone and I am doing my best not to catch it, but at the same time I have always felt that it’s important to keep things in perspective.

Regarding some ethnic minority groups & high rates of coronavirus ( in the UK )
They’re more likely to have customer facing jobs ( many of them low paid/ low skilled ) cab drivers /security guards for example.
Many of them work within the NHS or private care homes. Some live in overcrowded houses, and the vast majority live in big towns & cities.
So basically, you have poorer people living in over crowded houses in big cities in low paid customer facing jobs.
Certain groups also have a higher rate of diabetes.

It’s a terrible mix of circumstances where C19 is concerned unfortunately.

Interesting theories coming up re blood groups too.

Thank you Santana I hope the same for your daughter too going forward. Ours can, in the wee small hours after a bad day, worry what this virus might be doing to her internal organs. Luckily she is a lot stronger now and doesn’t suffer with breathlessness now. Those 9 weeks she was off work really scared her as she is a fit 40y old with no underlying conditions.

I think you can also compare Covid with influenza. A lot of people die every year from influenza, hence we are encouraged to have the flu vaccine. On the other hand, the majority of people are only ill for a short time and make a full recovery.

Elusivebutterfly

I think you can also compare Covid with influenza. A lot of people die every year from influenza, hence we are encouraged to have the flu vaccine. On the other hand, the majority of people are only ill for a short time and make a full recovery.

I don’t really think you can compare it with flu. Too many young very fit people have become seriously ill and some have lost their life this doesn’t happen on such a scale with flu

Peasblossom

Just going back to the BAME issue, growstuff. I’d be interested in your take on a couple of things.

Firstly, the BAME classification is far to wide for any meaningful research into genetic factors, because it encompasses many different ethnic groups. It’s a political classification really.

People that would be classified as BAME in Britain are not being affected by COVID in the same way throughout the world. Some African and Asian countries have fairly low rates of death per 100,000 of the population. I know this might be due to reporting techniques but their overall death rates don’t seem much higher than normal.

Any thoughts?

I honestly don't have a definitive answer, but it's interesting and would suggest it's not genetic, but environmental. It's known that people from certain "BAME" groups work in jobs where working from home isn't an option and that they often live in overcrowded housing. Maybe people in Africa and Asia tend to work outdoors, where transmission is lower. I really don't know, but there does need to be investigation. Apparently, black people in the US are being affected disproportionately too.

I've just seen Kadinsky's post. Snap!

Well I’m recovering from Covid now. I was hospitalised for twelve days, was very ill, but received fantastic care from the the medics, and I firmly believe that’s why I survived.

I caught Covid from my mother indirectly. She was hospitalised after a fall and a small brain injury, and despite testing negative twice before discharge, she actually was discharged with the virus. We were aware that Covid patients had been put into her ward, they firstly tested negative, then positive and were moved, but she’d already contracted it. I had decided to leave everything to the carers and not visit her (she’s in a bubble with us) for a week, but my husband decided to go because she needed a table moving so she could use her new walking frame. He’s always kind and tries to help people, but I wish he hadn’t on this occasion. She had the virus, the carer had sent for the ambulance and wanted my husband to wait with her for what could be several hours. He was with her for 40 minutes before the carer decided to send her to hospital in a taxi. My husband pushed her down in her wheelchair, them came home. Later that day we found out she tested positive. Unfortunately my husband contracted it from her, and in turn, I got it too.
My husband was ill for one day. My 93 year old mother was barely ill at all, and was quickly sent off to the rehabilitation centre where she was cared for until she went home. She had no obvious symptoms.
However it was a different story for me. After becoming increasingly unwell over approximately ten days, my oxygen saturation levels were dangerously low at 80 to 86. I was being monitored at home by the Virtual Covid Ward and a decision to send me into hospital was made, and within an hour I was at the hospital. I’ve documented on another thread the progression of the Covid so won’t go into it here. My point is that my husband and my elderly mother both suffered very few symptoms and recovered quickly. Unfortunately I didn’t. Why did they escape so lightly? Why did I become so ill? There aren’t any answers at the moment. I have asthma, was that the reason? I don’t think we’ll know any time soon. But I hope one day we’ll have the answer.

Incidentally, I’m not from the BAME community. I live in a house in a pleasant area. I don’t work any longer. I’m not obese. I’m not diabetic. I’m not male. There just isn’t a reason apparently, apart from the asthma, and my age, 67, that would have singled me out to be so ill.

I agree Rosie59. Healthcare staff don’t die in their hundreds from flu either.

Considering they are more at risk why are 72% of BAME people saying they won’t have the vaccination? It doesn’t make sense to me.

I hadn’t seen that you’d been in hospital maddyone. How frightening and hope you make a good recovery. It really does seem to be random doesn’t it, but there must be some other factor/s yet undiscovered.

maddyone

Incidentally, I’m not from the BAME community. I live in a house in a pleasant area. I don’t work any longer. I’m not obese. I’m not diabetic. I’m not male. There just isn’t a reason apparently, apart from the asthma, and my age, 67, that would have singled me out to be so ill.

Asthma is the third most common underlying condition in those who are hospitalised (after heart/circulatory problems and diabetes), so maybe that was the reason. I don't know that much about asthma, but apparently there are different reasons people have it, including links with the immune system. Maybe it's connected with whatever the reason for your asthma is, but you'd probably need specialist tests to find out anything.

Greeneyedgirl

I agree Rosie59. Healthcare staff don’t die in their hundreds from flu either.

Flu doesn't kill so many people either. 2017/18 was a bad year for flu. I can only find the Public Health England figure, but the total was around 22,000. Covid-19 has already killed more than four times that many.