SARS-CoV-2 and influenza have been connected in a variety of ways. Both COVID-19 and influenza cause respiratory diseases. Furthermore, an individual may receive both at the same time, complicating matters even further, particularly from a diagnostic aspect.
In fact, the symptoms of the two are so similar that some in the public and media have formed a "COVID is much like the flu" mantra, despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noting out that COVID-19 and influenza go their separate ways at certain times. There are distinctions.
A new study in Immunology suggests that there may be significant disparities. One of the study's co-authors, John Fraser, Ph.D., of the University of Queensland in Australia, stated in a press release that "the two viruses appear to affect cardiac tissue very differently, which we want to better understand in bigger cohort studies." We have conclusively demonstrated that COVID is not "just like the flu."
Researchers discovered that the DNA damage in the hearts of COVID-19 patients did not reflect the way influenza acts.
The researchers examined the hearts of seven people from Brazil who died with COVID-19, as well as the hearts of two people who died from flu and six patients who died from other reasons. They used transcriptome profiling to assess the samples' DNA. Previous investigations of the effects of COVID-19 were restricted to a study of blood biomarkers and physiological testing because to the invasiveness of obtaining heart biopsy samples.
The International Journal of Medical Sciences will publish a research titled "Similarities and Differences Between HIV and SARS-CoV2" in January 2021. According to the findings of that study, "while at first glance these viruses do not resemble each other, the molecular processes used are common: increased pro-inflammatory cytokine generation, changes in intestinal microbiota, and the development of NETs." For years, basic research has been attempting to comprehend these systems, and the greater the knowledge, the less harm will be done to the population in this pandemic and in the future."
The University of Queensland researchers' tiny study with a focused emphasis on heart damage could be a step toward establishing what damage COVID-19 can bring to other organs and physiological functions. DNA damage is associated with chronic diseases such as neurological disorders, atherosclerosis, diabetes, and cancer.
According to the report, "additional research is needed to determine whether direct SARS-CoV-2 infection of cardiac tissue or other physiological events are to blame for the cardiac harm documented in our cohort."
