how does a virus actually kill you?
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Viruses at their most basic form replicate by taking over a cell’s machinery to produce copies of themselves. This almost always causes the cell to die, either from bursting, or because the cell put so much energy into making viruses that it didn’t perform its own upkeep and fell apart. As these copies get released, they exponentially infect more and more of the same cells, slowly causing damage as they destroy more and more cells. Lose enough cells and things can get bad. Rabies and Polio damage your brain and neurons, resulting in swelling and paralysis. HIV wipes out your immune system, slowly leaving you more and more susceptible to other diseases. Hepatitis is what happens when your liver is damaged enough by the infection to stop function. Respiratory viruses can sometimes damage the lungs enough that they can’t take in oxygen or they fill with fluid
And sometimes its your body that tries to kill you first. Inflammation and fevers both can be caused by your own immune system trying to attack and handle the infection, and sometimes this runs out of control and hurts you instead if the fever runs too high for too long, or the swelling damages sensitive tissues or organs. This is often how many people die from the Flu or Covid
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