how the flu kills people?
In: Biology
The virus itself kills the infected cells during it’s reproductive cycle. If this is in your lungs, the loss of those cells will create problems breathing and clearing that debris out of the airways. If the virus further spreads, it will continue to destroy those tissues it reaches, causing them to lose function as a result.
The second contributor is your own immune system. Cells that are infected by the virus display markers that they are sick, and your immune system will attempt to destroy them. Additionally, the death of cells causes chemical Messengers to be spread around the body, triggering the immune system to try and create an environment hostile to the Invaders. This is where the fever etc comes from. Since this strategy attempts to interrupt cell processes, it will also hurt your healthy cells and their function. This means the reaction itself can be enough to kill you, whether the underlying virus itself would have. It’s exactly what made the 1918 flue epidemics so deadly, esepcially to those with strong immune systems
Virus trigger response from the immune system. Immu e system causes fever response If the immune system is weak (like for kids elders aids victims), it struggles a lot and heats up a lot. People die from overheating/exhaustion/deprivation of energy
Usually respiratory failure. People either die from influenza pneumonia, or a secondary bacterial pneumonia they get on top of the flu pneumonia. It fucks your lungs, and causes severe inflammation, lots of mucous build up, etc. You can’t pull oxygen from the air anymore, and can’t ditch your CO2. You basically can no longer breath properly. You can die from sepsis and resulting septic shock, more so if you have a secondary bacterial pneumonia. Bonus points if that bacterial pneumonia gets into your blood stream and does awesome stuff like heart, brain, and kidney infections.
If it’s the real flu (influenza, the respiratory disease): malfunctioning lungs, respiration physically blocked, and secondary infections.
If it’s the “stomach flu”, dehydration is the most common cause of death.
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