By Prior Beharry
YOUNER people are being infected with Covid-19 without “existing risk factors” in a similar manner with the Spanish Flu of 1918.
This according to Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds at the virtual presser of the Ministry of Health on Wednesday.
He was asked by AZPNews.com what were the medical reasons why younger people and those without pre-exiting conditions were dying from Covid-19 in Trinidad and Tobago.
Dr Hinds said there was “a little higher” number of people under 60 years who were being infected with the coronavirus in T&T.
He said from a clinical perspective, the reasons vary.
Dr Hinds said, “Some people had comorbidities, some people did not, some people would have had comorbidities of which they were not aware.
“And then there is always the sort of very hyperactive immune response that can happen with new viruses that could put some people into a very ticklish clinical situation very quickly and there is no real way of knowing when that could happen and to whom it could happen.
“It isn’t link to any known or existing risk factors but we do see that happening with pandemic viruses with the pandemic influenza in 1918 there was the tendency for younger people to have this sort of very violent immune response to the virus that then did some damage to their tissues including their lungs that made it difficult for them to breathe.”
He added, “There is some research that suggest that there is a small component of that also happening without any particular risk factors that identify who would be at highest risk.”
Dr Hinds advised the population to avoid being infected by reducing interaction and movement.
