How does the flu cause death? According to Scientific American, the way the flu kills its victims can be summed up simply: "The short and morbid answer is that in most cases the body kills itself by trying to heal itself."
As the virus spreads in the lungs and respiratory system, the body unleashes a counterattack, in which T-cells destroy the tissues that harbor the invading virus.
“In most healthy adults this process works, and they recover within days or weeks,” the magazine reports. “But sometimes the immune system’s reaction is too strong, destroying so much tissue in the lungs that they can no longer deliver enough oxygen to the blood, resulting in hypoxia and death.”
New #FluView report: 39 states plus New York City and Puerto Rico are now experiencing “high” flu-like activity. All states in the continental U.S. are reporting widespread flu activity for the third consecutive week. https://t.co/To4m34xyeh pic.twitter.com/nHdvXeghhT
— CDC Flu (@CDCFlu) January 29, 2018
Sometimes the lungs, weakened by the flu, become prey to another infection, often streptococcus, and the body is felled by bacterial overload, as happened to a New Hampshire mother of four earlier this month.
Worldwide, the flu causes up to 640,000 deaths annually.
Flu is widespread across the U.S. and pregnant women are at high risk of developing serious flu complications, such as pneumonia. Here’s why: https://t.co/N8qc26SJjg pic.twitter.com/XV1Gb1WsoV
— CDC Flu (@CDCFlu) February 1, 2018
Doctors have long known that contracting influenza can be dangerous for the elderly, for infants and for those already in a weakened state. But flu can kill others as well, depending on the virulence of the particular strain that spreads during flu season.
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Cox Media Group