Why

[fruitsalad]

Are some getting mild symptoms of this virus and some are dying, it's obviously not just people with underlying health issues, now either, it seems.

[Buenchico]

Some people have fairly low immune systems all the time due to genetic reasons. In almost every workplace, for example, there's nearly always one person who is constantly getting colds and who is usually the first to go down with 'whatever is going around'.

Others might have had a disease, possibly in childhood, which left them with an immune system which is somewhat less than perfect.

Yet others might recently have had 'a mild touch of flu', possibly with no more than a sniffle or too. That could still be enough to leave their immune system suppressed for a few weeks afterwards.

If any of the people I've mentioned above contract Covid-19, their bodies will find it much harder to cope than the bodies of people with strong immune systems.

[fruitsalad]

Thank you for your clear explanation Buen

[fiction-factory]

It's a new virus so I think there are a lot of unknowns. For example why do children who get it rarely have serious problems? One suggested reason is a counterintuitive one- that they don't have the antibodies that older people have (which has a worrying implication)

[rowanwitch]

The interesting thing is far more men than women die from it....

[woofgang]

children getting viruses more lightly than adults is surely a known phenomenon? Wasn't that the basis for the "childhood illness" parties that used to happen to ensure that children got them before adulthood?

[fiction-factory]

Yes, but I'd be interested to know why that is the case, woofgang.

[Peter Pedant]

we dont know - xc Chris

they are trying by observation trying to identify the factors
over sixty - being a man
within the over sixty group - they have made little headway
other disease ( rather obvious)
hypertensive disease surprisingly
previous lung disease

one researcher said - we will really only know at the post epidemic clean-up - she meant debrief

[Peter Pedant]

// Yes, but I'd be interested to know why that is the case, woofgang.//

then you need to do a three year microbiology course

There is no doubt children respond differently to disease than adults and one reason is that their tissue is still growing and so for example they can effectively replace damaged lung tissue

the effects can be different -chickenpox is mild in children and sortof wipes out adults

Polio is worse in young adults - the highest ratio of quadriplegia in polio was in young recruits serving in Egypt - children and adults were relatively spared. Trauma localisation was observed - tonsillectomy was abandoned during outbreaks as there was an increased ratio of pharyngeal polio

spanish flu killed 2% (It must be higher that is low low low) and swept over, attacked, wiped out military camps in an incredibly high but presumably short courses - everyone got it at the same time as far as Ican see, - and elder adults tended not to die - nor children

so what was the question
what is it that selects whether you die or not
we dont really know
but the solution starts with observation

[pixie374]

Children just heal themselves so much faster, as they are still growing.

[Canary42]

Could younger fatalities be people with unidentified underlying health issues.

[Cloverjo]

//the "childhood illness" parties that used to happen to ensure that children got them before adulthood//

I’m not sure about those parties. I’m a child of the 70s. Chickenpox was horrible. We didn’t deliberately spread it around.

[tiggerblue10]

I had chicken pox when I was about 7 or 8. It was horrid.

I used to get colds regularly when I smoked. It's been 12-13 years since I stopped and I rarely get them now. The last time I had a cold was Oct/Nov and I felt quite ill. Usually I use the Vicks First Defence at the first sign but that time I didn't.

[pixie374]

I am too, clover, and I do remember "chicken pox parties" although I got it from school.

[grumpy01]

Presumably the so called hot spots are in fairly densely populated areas.

[woofgang]

Cloverjo I am a child of the 50's/60's I definitely remember disease parties, although my mother and her mother didn't approve of them so we never went. Folk wisdom even then was that in particular it was wise for boys to get mumps and girls to get german measles over and for both sexes to get chicken pox over.

[pixie374]

Mumps affects girls just the same. But at least that is vaccinated now.

[woofgang]

does mumps make girls sterile?

[pixie374]

It can... it causes painful and swollen ovaries.

[woofgang]

gosh I never knew that....but I am from an all girl family.

[pixie374]

It doesn't seem as much publicised, tbf. But they are the same body part...