Coronavirus - Personal Thoughts
The whole world has been badly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, specifically the disease COVID-19, due to the coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. Since it has affected almost everybody in the world at personal level, so it is natural to have some personal thoughts about the effect of this virus.
The most positive reason is to find the cure or prevent the virus from affecting anyone and causing disease and death. And there are interesting facts available on the internet which makes you think about its unique statistics, especially the impact on young adults and children.
The most striking part is the age of coronavirus deaths. There is a marked consistency across different countries about low death rates for infected cases of children and young people.
Now this is a new coronavirus and is aptly named novel Coronavirus disease of 2019. i.e. nCovid-19.
So how is it possible that infants and young have low death rate for infected cases? Because naturally it makes one to conclude that they have higher immunity against SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Please check the link here to see the Covid-19 fatality rate by age: Age of Coronavirus Deaths.
Another link to show the similar details for South Korea, Italy, Spain and China is visually more striking: Case fatality rate of COVID-19 by age.
It shows almost no fatalities for children 0-9 years. Also till 39 years the fatality rates for SARS-CoV-2 infected patients is less than 0.2%. Now the logical conclusion is that either the virus is weak against the infants and children and strong against population above 30 years OR the children have higher immunity against this virus.
Is it natural to have stronger immunity in children than in adults and old people? Is it natural for children to have immunity against a new disease against which neither of their parents have stronger immunity? Immunity is passed on from the mother to the baby. So if mother does not have immunity then how come child has developed reasonable defense against the SARS-CoV-2 virus? You can check the link about transfer of antibodies (that provide immunity) from mother to baby here.
There is an interesting scientific article in US NIH website, which basically summarizes the similarities in immune system of children and very old people. It talks about stronger immune system in adults against viruses.
This reasoning get stronger if we compare it with earlier pandemic of 1918. At that time the virus killed old and children in higher numbers. This is logical as children have low immunity and old people too. The 1918 pandemic was through a virus and most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill the very young and the very old. The wiki link to the article detailing lower immunity to novel strains of virus and other details can be found at: 1918 flu pandemic.
The conclusion from the above analysis is that immune system of very young and people till the age of 30 years is uniquely stronger against SARS-CoV-2 virus. It is good news but it hints at something very positive which is being missed. That is the missing piece in the puzzle which if true can have potential good results in treating or preventing the spread of this virus.
We can see similar pattern for SARS outbreak of 2003-04. The children and young fatality rates were lower as depicted in this WHO age vs country table. The median age is above 30 for most countries.
There is also an interesting article published in 2013, with particular emphasis on measles vaccine in newscientist.
Let me spell it out in simple words, the immune system of children has been made stronger by something given after birth. Also the effect of that lasts many years. That is called vaccination. đŸ’§
But there is no vaccine for nCovid-19 so how come children and young adults have been already vaccinated against this virus? It might have happened coincidentally or accidentally through some other vaccine which might have boosted body's immunity. Basically the ability to make antibodies against existing virus might be working against SARS-CoV-2 virus too, albeit accidentally.
If all this seems logical and realistic you may check the later post, which is again personal analysis of a layman and not an expert. The analysis is based on the openly available data about nCovid-19.
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The most positive reason is to find the cure or prevent the virus from affecting anyone and causing disease and death. And there are interesting facts available on the internet which makes you think about its unique statistics, especially the impact on young adults and children.
The most striking part is the age of coronavirus deaths. There is a marked consistency across different countries about low death rates for infected cases of children and young people.
Now this is a new coronavirus and is aptly named novel Coronavirus disease of 2019. i.e. nCovid-19.
So how is it possible that infants and young have low death rate for infected cases? Because naturally it makes one to conclude that they have higher immunity against SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Please check the link here to see the Covid-19 fatality rate by age: Age of Coronavirus Deaths.
Another link to show the similar details for South Korea, Italy, Spain and China is visually more striking: Case fatality rate of COVID-19 by age.
It shows almost no fatalities for children 0-9 years. Also till 39 years the fatality rates for SARS-CoV-2 infected patients is less than 0.2%. Now the logical conclusion is that either the virus is weak against the infants and children and strong against population above 30 years OR the children have higher immunity against this virus.
Is it natural to have stronger immunity in children than in adults and old people? Is it natural for children to have immunity against a new disease against which neither of their parents have stronger immunity? Immunity is passed on from the mother to the baby. So if mother does not have immunity then how come child has developed reasonable defense against the SARS-CoV-2 virus? You can check the link about transfer of antibodies (that provide immunity) from mother to baby here.
There is an interesting scientific article in US NIH website, which basically summarizes the similarities in immune system of children and very old people. It talks about stronger immune system in adults against viruses.
This reasoning get stronger if we compare it with earlier pandemic of 1918. At that time the virus killed old and children in higher numbers. This is logical as children have low immunity and old people too. The 1918 pandemic was through a virus and most influenza outbreaks disproportionately kill the very young and the very old. The wiki link to the article detailing lower immunity to novel strains of virus and other details can be found at: 1918 flu pandemic.
The conclusion from the above analysis is that immune system of very young and people till the age of 30 years is uniquely stronger against SARS-CoV-2 virus. It is good news but it hints at something very positive which is being missed. That is the missing piece in the puzzle which if true can have potential good results in treating or preventing the spread of this virus.
We can see similar pattern for SARS outbreak of 2003-04. The children and young fatality rates were lower as depicted in this WHO age vs country table. The median age is above 30 for most countries.
There is also an interesting article published in 2013, with particular emphasis on measles vaccine in newscientist.
Let me spell it out in simple words, the immune system of children has been made stronger by something given after birth. Also the effect of that lasts many years. That is called vaccination. đŸ’§
But there is no vaccine for nCovid-19 so how come children and young adults have been already vaccinated against this virus? It might have happened coincidentally or accidentally through some other vaccine which might have boosted body's immunity. Basically the ability to make antibodies against existing virus might be working against SARS-CoV-2 virus too, albeit accidentally.
If all this seems logical and realistic you may check the later post, which is again personal analysis of a layman and not an expert. The analysis is based on the openly available data about nCovid-19.
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