Immunologist Kryuchkov: long-term preservation of coronavirus in the human body is an exception
Photo: Denis Balibouse / Reuters
Russian immunologist Nikolai Kryuchkov, in an interview with Izvestia, explained the long-term preservation of the coronavirus in the human body, calling it rather an exception.
According to the specialist, this can happen due to the fact that the immune system, for some reason, cannot cope with the virus. “In principle, this is possible,” said Kryuchkov.
He also stressed that this mainly happens against the background of chronic diseases, when the virus introduces an imbalance in the body, and the internal systems are not able to “clean out” COVID-19. As a result, there is chronic inflammation, increasing maladjustment, and increasing dysfunctions of organs and tissues.
The immunologist explained that the cause may be, among other things, an autoimmune reaction of the body, blood clotting disorders (thrombosis), and in some patients, autoimmune inflammation.
At the same time, the specialist confirmed the version that COVID-19 really spreads outside the lungs. So, the disease affects both the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, as well as the brain. However, it is difficult to say exactly how COVID-19 affects various body systems, the immunologist added.
Previously professor, virologist at the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology named after N.F. Gamaleya of the Ministry of Health of Russia, Alexander Butenko, said that the combination of different genotypes of the virus forms collective group-specific immunity in people, which is able to protect against several variations of infection at the same time. The virologist called this mechanism a way to protect against the omicron strain of COVID-19.
