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Young people get, get sick, and spread the coronavirus 3:33
(CNN) - When Ben Luderer, 30, started feeling sick, he wasn't so surprised. Only a few days earlier, his wife, Brandy, had tested positive for coronavirus, but it was no big deal.
All he had was a very low temperature, one that doctors didn't even consider a fever, he said. He was somewhat congested, but was recovering. He wasn't so worried when he started feeling bad, either. After all, they were both young and healthy.
The two worked in the Cliffside Park school district in New Jersey, both as special education teachers: she at school n. ° 4, he at school n. ° 6. He, a high school baseball star player, continued his passion by coaching the varsity baseball team.
However, for Ben, his symptoms quickly became more severe. She had more trouble breathing and on the last Friday in March, she told Brandy it was time to go to the emergency room. "I was really worried," says Brandy. "He came into our room where I was lying, and he said, you know, I have to go, I have to go to the hospital."
"Are you sure you want to go there?" She asked him. He said "Yes, I need it." Brandy immediately took him to the hospital. However, she could not enter with him because they did not accept visits. So, she was sitting in the car all night and text messages were sent. "He updated me all the time," he said.
At the hospital, Ben received oxygen and responded well, Brandy said. They gave him fluids and Tylenol and then sent him home that same night. "Keep doing what you're doing at home," they said.
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The following Sunday, he felt better and showed signs of improvement, his wife said. He got out of bed and had dinner for the first time.
"Sunday was a great day. He was walking around, talking to us, "said Brandy. Ben was on his way to recovery, apparently. That night, however, her symptoms returned.
Ben and Brandy Luderer.
"Ben always said that the nights had been the worst for him, he sweated and when he went to bed in a certain way," said Brandy. "Breathing was particularly difficult for him."
That night, Ben had a hard time getting comfortable. Since Ben slept in the room and Brandy on the couch, text messages were sent to communicate. At one point, Ben texted his wife and said, "I am fighting." Brandy asked him if he needed to go back to the emergency room, and Ben replied that he wasn't sure.
"So I just tried to do everything I could to make him feel comfortable, you know, calm his breathing, make him cool," said Brandy. She borrowed a humidifier from a friend to try it out.
Once Ben finally settled into bed, Brandy listened through the door to his room.
"I could hear through the door that I was still breathing and I fell asleep," she said. She checked it again at 2 am, and everything seemed fine. However, when she woke up at 6 a.m., she found her 30-year-old husband dead in her bed.
“Whether I had known you for five minutes or known you for your entire life, I would have given you the same respect and would try to contact you and help you and make you laugh in any way possible. That was the kind of selfless person he was, "Brandy recalled.
As I listened to Brandy tell the story, my heart broke for her. They were husband and wife, but also best friends, both working in the same school district, driving to work every day. She didn't know what she would do to herself on Monday, let alone the rest of her life.
And Brandy was left with a mystery. She knew her husband was ill, but how was it possible for a healthy 30-year-old with no pre-existing conditions to decay so quickly?
Ben Luderer's story is one of many that have puzzled health officials around the world. Why do some young people get sick and die so abruptly?
Admittedly, covid-19 seems to affect older people more seriously, particularly those with pre-existing conditions like heart, lung, and diabetes. It could be that the immune system of an elderly person also cannot fight the disease, and the virus can replicate more easily, overwhelming the body and causing failures in the multi-organ system.
And yet, as we begin to look deeper and hear more stories, it becomes apparent that there are many people like Ben, who are younger and still get sick and die. I recently heard the story of Conrad Buchanan, 39, a lively and healthy Florida DJ who also died after having coronavirus despite having no underlying conditions, according to his wife.
READ : A healthy 39-year-old DJ died of coronavirus. This is what your wife and daughter want you to know
We have long known that this new disease, covid-19, was not just the disease of an older person. It has become clear that healthy young people are not immune to this infection and could become ill enough to require hospitalization.
In an overview of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. USA (CDC), for 2,449 patients whose age was known, 18% were between 45 and 54 years old, and 29% were between 20 and 44 years old. Among those hospitalized, 18% were between 45 and 54 years old and 20% were between 20 and 44 years old.
Younger people are much less likely to die, but there is an unusual pattern that seems to be emerging. As Dr. Anthony Fauci told me, it is what makes coronavirus an "unusual disease."
"I am fascinated," he said, "... by what I would call pathogenesis."
"You know, you have a lot of people who are doing well and then some people who just, bingo, are on a respirator, are on ECMO (a cardiopulmonary machine) and are dead," Fauci said when I interviewed him for my podcast, "Coronavirus : Fact vs. Fiction ”.
"I mean, the dichotomy between that, there is something there, Sanjay, that we are missing from the point of view of pathogenesis. And I don't think it's only if you are elderly or if you have underlying conditions. Something else is going on there that hopefully we'll finally find out. ”
So what could be behind this? Scientists and researchers are wondering if the answer might lie in our genes and are beginning to try to understand what differentiates people with mild cases from those who die.
One possibility is a genetic variation in the ACE2 gene. ACE2 is an enzyme that binds to the outer surface of cells in the lungs, as well as the heart. In an article in the journal Science , immunologist Dr. Philip Murphy of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that "variations in the ACE2 gene that alter the receptor could facilitate or hinder the entry of the virus into lung cells" .
It's also possible that a critical body-produced ingredient, known as a surfactant, which allows the lungs to expand and contract, is depleted in some coronavirus-infected patients. If you think of your lungs as a sponge, the surfactant would be the detergent that would make them soft and flexible. Without surfactant, however, your lung becomes stiff and hard to squeeze. This may be why some patients continue to fight even on a breathing machine.
Another avenue being pursued is to better understand how your body's immune system responds to viruses and bacteria in the first place. In some young and healthy people, a highly reactive immune system could trigger a massive inflammatory storm that could overwhelm the lungs and other organs. In those cases, the problem is not an aging or weakened immune system; it's one that works too well. Some front-line doctors have speculated that this is why steroids, a suppressant of the immune system, seem to offer benefits in some people.
Perhaps it is that some younger and healthier people, who think that they are not vulnerable to this disease, have been less diligent in practicing physical distancing and, as a result, have been exposed to much larger viral loads from the environment.
Better defining the underlying pathology could still take months, and can be variable in patients, regardless of age. While it's true that a significant percentage of young people may be at higher risk because Americans have such a high baseline rate of pre-existing conditions like diabetes, it's perfectly healthy young people like Ben and Conrad that we need to understand better.
For now, regardless of your age or underlying condition, the advice remains the same. Stay home, wash your hands, and reduce exposure to the virus as much as possible. Even if you develop mild symptoms, it's probably best to stay home to recover.
But if you develop trouble breathing, persistent chest pain or pressure, sudden confusion or inability to wake up, or bluish lips or face, please, it's time to go to the hospital.
Ben Luderer's wife says doctors still cannot explain exactly what happened.
"We really don't know," Brandy told us. "I really do not know".
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For now, all she can do is take things minute by minute, hour by hour, and day by day to process how quickly her life changed.
"Ben and I were the type of couple that did everything together," he said. “So it's very difficult to understand where to go with this when you don't have your life partner that you did everything with. So I'm still trying to understand it. "
Quarantine Youth
