Jon CohenScience’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Heising-Simons Foundation.Even a world-class orchestra will produce a cacophony if its strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion sections don’t play in harmony.
Similarly, the sophisticated human immune system can fail to beat back a pathogen if its many players don’t hit the right notes at the right times.
A new study now finds that people who suffer the most from COVID-19 have an immune response that’s out of sync.The results help clarify how the disease progresses and could possibly inform how best to use various treatments and how to design the most effective vaccines. “We need to know exactly how the immune response is shaped to this virus,” says Donna.