>> is this worrisome? <<
If it holds up, certainly.
Kids get all sorts of stuff because they haven't got an immune system with "memory" against bad stuff. Polio was a disease of developed countries. Kids in developing countries were exposed to the virus, playing on the floor of their homes, at a time when passive antibody from their moms was still around and protective. But someone from a developed country wandered in, and...... presto, a terrible disease was unleashed.
It's natural that kids get sick with a bug at higher frequency. But it's also natural that their "ready to leap into action" T cell system will be protective, short of death.
But some doctors in China were using immunosuppressants (steroids) as treatment, believing that it's the body's response to the virus that is the "death" culprit. In this case, progression could be most rapid in kids.
Looks like a terrible bug to me. One place that people will be looking, in a hurry, is the cell surface marker that this bug uses to enter cells. If you cruise around this site, you'll see the sort of insights that scientists are throwing into the battle..... "how does a virus contribute to disease, beyond just killing infected cells?".......
chemocentryx.com
(that was just a random thought, not something that points in any investment-related stuff) |
