Called a “cytokine storm”, it was once an arcane phenomenon familiar mainly to rheumatologists who study when and how the immune system’s safeguards fail. When immune cells first encounter a pathogen, they release molecules called cytokines to recruit even more cells to the fight. The pandemic has also popularised an approach that is commonplace for treating some diseases, but has not been proved in clinical trials to work for coronavirus patients. Even now, during the pandemic, its use is authorised only in coronavirus patients who are critically ill, with imminent or confirmed respiratory failure. “It seems that Covid-19 has a prolonged cytokine storm — a prolonged, really effective inflammatory state compared to other sepsis states,” he said.

Source: The Telegraph June 21, 2020 08:58 UTC