First identified as a driving force behind a major surge in cases across China last month, the NB.1.8.1 variant has been reported in international travelers screened at airports in Washington, Virginia, New York and California. In California, scientists at the Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory confirmed the state’s first known infection on April 17, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Different symptoms/mechanisms.
Spanish flu killed young healthy adults; the weak and elderly were actually safer. That virus triggered a cytokine storm - an overreaction of the immune system - that slagged the patient’s body as collateral damage, like a twisted game of “stop hitting yourself.” The stronger your immune system, the harder you’d hit yourself.
SARS-CoV-2 followed the normal pattern, and hit the weak and elderly harder. Admittedly, the original strain was a wildcard, and did take down some healthy 30yos at random while others never showed symptoms. It also tended to provoke micro-clots throughout the body, rather than hemorrhages.
Omicron evolved to target the upper airway rather than the lungs, which is the main reason why COVID is so much less lethal these days. I’m not sure how Spanish flu evolved, but I don’t think it was an issue of the tissue it targeted as much as some immune pathway it hijacked.
Thanks for explaining it, that helped. I think it was the amputations and people dying quickly once they hit a certain stage that made it seem similar. I guess if you’re extremities aren’t getting flow for whatever reason, you’ll have amputations and stuff.