Why Covid-19 Infections Affect People Differently?

Corona virus is said to be novel virus i.e. it is a new strain of virus that has not been identified before in any animal or human, leading to a lot of uncertainties regarding the effect of the virus on different people. It is observed that the COVID-19 affects different people differently; for some it may start with coughing fits and fever, others may experience muscle aches and lack of taste, while some may even be asymptomatic.

A concrete explanation of why this novel virus has different effects on different people is not yet concluded, however it is closely associated with the immune system of the person. It depends on how your immune system responds to the spread of the virus in your body. Once the virus enters your body, it starts replicating at immense rate, that’s when your immunity power gets triggered and acts as a resistor to fight and stop the spread of the virus. The immunity power of each person’s body differs, resulting in varied behaviour of Covid-19 infection among people.

The extent of the virus also depends on the body’s resistance against the unwelcomed virus. A person might get so sick that they need to be hospitalized, while some infected people may get cured just by following home-quarantine. There were many other strains of corona virus that had affected mankind in the past, namely MERS-CoV, which caused infections in middle East, and SARS-CoV, that caused the 2003 SARS outbreak. The new COVID-19 spreads in the same way as the previous strains of corona virus i.e. by attacking the human respiratory system causing similar symptoms as the common flu, however this strain of virus is much better adapted to human beings causing grave number of cases all over the globe.

People having poor health conditions or pre-existing health problems like heart disease, respiratory problems, diabetes or cancer are likely to get affected adversely and can have life-threating COVID-19 infections. Some people may get really sick while some people may not have any problem. There are various factors because of which COVID-19 infections affect people differently but researchers are still not able to find the core reason behind this unusual behaviour.

Some researchers stated that the type of the blood also affects the spread of the virus in the body cells. People having ‘Type O’ blood have a protective effect as compared to the people having ‘Type A’ blood. ‘Obesity’ too is one of the factors influencing the spread of corona virus. However, these are just statements by the researchers and there is no substantial evidence to confirm the same. Various researches are carried out extensively to understand the prime factors responsible for corona virus.

‘Age’ is also a factor that was highly affected the intensity of the virus in human body; it was observed that people above the age of 60 are at higher risk of getting coronavirus.

A robust immune response can fight the virus when your body asks for help against the infection caused by the virus. The immune response of the body can be high or low, the body should have the ability to develop right amount of immunity at the right time to control the virus. An inappropriate immune response can lead to reverse reaction that may end up attacking your body instead of the virus.

Worldwide, it is seen that around 80% of the people heal without any complications however, 1 out of every 6 people having corona virus can become seriously ill which may lead to death. The condition of the person worsens if the virus in the body worsens, causing pneumonia or other infections which become difficult to cure.

As of now, there’s no substantial proof to back up the main reason of why COVID-19 affect people differently, however, following the basic hygiene practices, eating healthy food and keeping your body fit and fine, will help your body fight and kill the COVID-19 infections.