The novel coronavirus is mainly affecting people over 65 as well as those over 65 are at greater chance of suffering from severe illness and death. At least this was the message that came from China and Italy and lulling those who aren’t in this category in a false sense insanity. However, as the virus has taken over U.S. soil in recent months, with the number of cases reaching 200,000 and more than 4500 deaths by April 1, new stories have surfaced of young people suffering from critical health and, in rare instances, being killed by Covid-19.

Then there’s an 30 year-old coach of the high school’s baseball team from New Jersey, the 36-year-old head of the school in Brooklyn as well as an pharmacist aged 25 located in San Diego — all dead after being positive for novel coronavirus.

“It’s really important to look at those younger patients because it’s something that’s driving a lot of panic,” Amesh Adalja, MD, a senior researcher in the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in the media event hosted through the Association of Health Care Journalists. “If you hear about an 18-year-old dying, it’s much different than hearing about an 81-year-old dying.”

Young people are susceptible to getting sick however, deaths are not common.

Stories of young people being killed are not a source of any sense, however, and as per the latest figures provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. mortality rates for young adults and children are in fact similar to Italy, Spain, China as well as South Korea. Within those four countries, there’s been two deaths recorded among people who are younger than 20 and the fatality rates vary between 0.1 percent to 0.4 percent for adults aged 20 to 49.

“It’s really important that we figure out what the risk factors for death are in those younger age cohorts so that we can demystify it, so it’s not a lightning bolt from heaven that struck somebody down.”

The CDC group the ages of their patients in different ways, but the results are very similar. In March there had been no deaths among those younger than 20 (two deaths among teenagers were reported in the past) and a mortality rate of 0.2 percent among people aged 20-44. In New York City, the central point of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, numbers aren’t much higher, with just one death among people younger than 18 and a death rate of 0.4 percent for people between the ages of 18 to 44.

It doesn’t mean that that younger people aren’t serious illness. The U.S., 12% of cases of Covid-19 have been admitted to hospital and 18 percent of those admitted were between 20 to 44. Studies from Spain provide similar figures in the form of 18.5 percent instances of cases that are hospitalized occurring among those under 50. However, those twentythirty-, forty- and fortysomethings are far better able to recuperate and later be discharged than their older relatives.

The question is the answer is: why are some young people becoming sicker and what’s the difference between those who do die?

“There are going to be individuals that are younger, for whatever reason, maybe idiosyncrasies in their immune system or their genetics, that are going to be prone to severe infection,” Adalja stated. “It’s really important that we figure out what the risk factors for death are in those younger age cohorts so that we can demystify it, so it’s not a lightning bolt from heaven that struck somebody down.”

Medical conditions that cause the condition put 41.4 millions U.S. adults between 18 and 64 at a higher risk

It is now becoming clear that the most important factor than age is preexisting health conditions. According to a New study from CDC The study was published on March 31 published on March 31, 73% of those admitted to hospital for the coronavirus novel were suffering from at least one prior medical condition. More strikingly The fact that 94% of patients who died due to the virus had a chronic disease, with the most frequent being chronic lung disease, diabetes along with cardiovascular illness.

People who are older are more likely to suffer from chronic health issues as compared to younger people who are more susceptible to health issues, which is why there is an age-related skew in the cases of deaths and serious cases. However, according to the April 1 report by Kaiser Health News There are 41.4 millions U.S. adults under the age of 65 who are at risk of getting an infection that is serious due to Covid-19 due to preexisting health ailments.

Recent data of recent research from Louisiana and Mississippi supports this assertion. These two states are currently two of the most impacted with the highest rate of fatalities within the U.S. coming from the New Orleans hotspot, and the most hospitalization rates that occurs in Mississippi. Both states are in the top four states of the U.S. in terms of overweight as well as diabetes as well as among the top six in terms of hypertension..

The results of a fresh study by researchers from China released within The Lancet on April 1st suggests that obesity particularly in males nearly doubles the chance of developing pneumonia severe among those with Covid-19.

What is the reason these conditions which aren’t normally connected with respiratory conditions can make the virus more lethal? There’s increasing proof to suggest that among the most common reasons people die from Covid-19 is heart-related complications and obesity, diabetes and hypertension may be a source of stress for the heart.

“It’s not a surprise that this virus affects the heart, it’s kind of expected, but the amount that it affects it is remarkable,” says Mohammad Madjid, MD, an assistant professor at the McGovern Medical School of UTHealth in Houston who has been researching the impact of heart disease caused by viruses for more than 20 years. “People who suffer from heart disease are especially vulnerable to the virus. Anyone with the risk factor for heart attacklike diabetes, hypertension as well as old age and smokers — are more susceptible as well.”

It has been discovered that the majority of deaths caused by respiratory illnesses like influenza result from damaged heart and not the lungs and Covid-19 seems to be not any different. A study recently released in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that, among patients admitted to hospital for coronavirus, people with high levels troponin, a protein that iswhich is a sign of damage to the heart musclewere found to have an average death rate of 61% as compared to a 9 percent mortality rate for those who had normal levels of troponin, regardless of the underlying heart condition.

“Troponin gets elevated in a subset of patients even without having a history of known cardiovascular diseases, and in these people, the risk of dying from the condition is much higher,” states Madjid who was not a part of the study. “It looks like the cardiac injury is happening in both people with and without heart disease.”

As with most of the complications that result from coronavirus damage is caused by the virus, but of an reaction to the immune system which follows. The body’s inflammatory response produces to fight the virus can go out of control, and eventually end in causing damage to the other organs in the body including the heart.

In addition, age and health conditions that are underlying increase the risk of the so-called cytokine storm occurring. A stressed heart due to obesity or diabetes can cause the damage worse.

Genes could be the cause for the onset of severe disease even in otherwise healthy young adults.

While the majority of the severe cases of Covid-19 occur in people over the age of and those suffering from preexisting ailments However, there are a few otherwise healthy young adults who may be admitted to hospital and eventually die of the disease. Scientists are looking at genetics to determine the reason. Is there a genetic variant that could not have been discovered that affects the inflammatory immune response of a person or their vulnerability to damage to the lungs and heart?

“The hypothesis that we test is that they carry inborn errors of immunity — that is, that they carry single gene lesions that make them vulnerable to this particular virus, whether they encounter the virus at 5 years of age or 20 or 45.”

Jean-Laurent Casanova, MD, PhD Professor at Rockefeller University who runs the Human Genetics Laboratory for infectious diseases is trying to address this question by searching for specific gene variants for young adults below 50 years old without any health issues who suffer from coronavirus, a novel virus.

“In these patients, the hypothesis that we test is that they carry inborn errors of immunity — that is, that they carry single gene lesions that make them vulnerable to this particular virus, whether they encounter the virus at five years of age or 20 or 45,” Casanova declares. “It’s the encounter with the virus that reveals the phenotype which is encrypted in the genome.”

Casanova has carried out this research previously for influenza, revealing that the variants in three genes associated with the body’s immune system were modified in patients who had severe complications due to the virus. He and his collaborators from all over the globe are working together to discover additional variants that could be involved in the development of serious coronavirus infections. If they succeed they could determine the development of vaccines and drug priority areas, and solve some important questions about the virus.

“If we crack the problem in a few patients — that is, if we understand some genetic cases — what’s great is that it illuminates the pathogenesis possibly even in nongenetic cases,” Casanova states.

There’s a deficiency of information as well as the time needed to study it, with regard to the coronavirus that is a novel. As scientists and health professionals learn more about the disease and the severity of the illness certain data, figures and the best practices will change. But one clear message that is beginning to emerge — and is applicable to the majority of illnesses is that nobody is invincible to this virus and the benefits of good health in the cardiovascular system and treating obesity will pay off regardless of how old a person is.