CytoSorbents Corporation (CTSO)

[Murph1953]

The "Interferon Phenomenon"
April 4, 2020

An infectious diseases doctor muses on COVID-19

"I recently retired from my 45-year career as an Infectious Diseases consultant and.... No one has, so far as I can tell talked about some curious aspects of this outbreak.

"Why don't all people in closed settings like in Wuhan or on the Diamond Princess cruise ship acquire the virus? Three explanations occur to me.

"B) The well-known interferon phenomenon has been known for at least 50 years. It seems that a cell infected with many kinds of viruses produces proteins that cause itself and nearby cells to become resistant to being infected with other unrelated viruses. The interferon effect lasts for weeks.

I’m envisioning widespread influenza infection in a population followed shortly by the introduction of COVID-19. The new virus would not be able to infect most of the people exposed, truncating the infection as has apparently happened in Wuhan itself as well as in Korea, Japan, and Singapore during their winter influenza seasons."

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/04/an_infectious_diseases_doctor_muses_on_covid19.html