Coronavirus Could Attack Immune System Like HIV

Bat AIDS is back in the news.

SCMP:

“The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 could kill the powerful immune cells that are supposed to kill the virus instead, scientists have warned.

The surprise discovery, made by a team of researchers from Shanghai and New York, coincided with frontline doctors’ observation that Covid-19 could attack the human immune system and cause damage similar to that found in HIV patients.

Lu Lu, from Fudan University in Shanghai, and Jang Shibo, from the New York Blood Centre, joined the living virus, which is officially known as Sars-CoV-2, to laboratory-grown T lymphocyte cell lines. …

To the surprise of the scientists, the T cell became a prey to the coronavirus in their experiment. They found a unique structure in the virus’ spike protein that apparently triggered the fusion of a viral envelope and cell membrane when they came into contact.

The virus’s genes then entered the T cell and took it hostage, disabling its function of protecting humans. …

Doctors who had seen the bodies said the damage to the internal organs was similar to a combination of Sars and Aids. “

I haven’t heard much about this since January.

It seems to mostly kill people by destroying the respiratory system like SARS but it can also destroy the immune system like HIV and cause people to die from other types of infections.