Coronavirus: How the Body Fights Back

Worldwide coronavirus infections have surpassed 400 thousand, but the number of recovered patients has risen to over 100 thousand. Researchers in Australia have studied the virus and are describing the body’s healing process, as so far the vast majority of those infected will go on to make a full recovery.

There are no drugs or vaccines available for the virus and it is spreading rapidly, yet the majority of cases are resolved with minimal treatment. Australian researchers followed a 47-year-old with the virus and documented her case of coronavirus. She returned from Wuhan and 11 days later began to feel the typical symptoms of fever, sore throat, dry cough, and shortness of breath, while her vitals were mostly normal besides a high pulse of 120 bpm. A test revealed she had the virus, and her case was documented by researchers.

A followup check 7 days after the test showed a negative result, after the patient’s immune system successfully combatted the infection. She then made a full recovery without any medications, steroids, oxygen, or other drugs, and was fully recovered after 13 days and tested negative again after 20 days. The researchers tested her immune response because a similar immune response takes place when someone recovers from the common flu, and the recovery timeline of 3 days after the big immune response was the same.

The study observed an increase in immune cells including white blood cells, antibody cells, and helper “T-Cells” which create antibodies. These cells likely were part of the body’s response against pneumonia which is a common symptom of coronavirus. This knowledge could help us treat the virus by demonstrating the body’s response is similar to other viruses like the common flu.