Scientists at Yale University (USA) have found that the cause of damage to 10-20% of the lungs in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 is an excessive inflammatory response of the immune system. This is stated in an article published in the scientific journal Nature Biotechnology.

Thanks to this discovery, experts have identified a drug for the effective treatment of the disease, namely, the use of monoclonal antibodies and the steroid dexamethasone. However, antibodies are only effective in the early stages of coronavirus infection.

Scientists injected the coronavirus into the nasal cavity of mice, which subsequently developed the classic symptoms of severe COVID-19: lung damage, weight loss, and an enhanced, sustained inflammatory immune response. In the early stages of infection, the immunosuppressant dexamethasone killed the mice when it suppressed the initial immune response, which was critical to fighting the virus.

At the same time, in the later stages of the disease, the drug helped rodents by suppressing the inflammatory reaction that caused organ damage. This discovery will help develop new treatments for the severe course of coronavirus infection.

Earlier it was reported that the virologist named the timing of death in COVID-19.

bbabo.Net