OREANDA-NEWS. According to EurekAlert, scientists have identified two phases of a severe form of coronavirus.

The study was conducted by specialists at the Massachusetts General Hospital, who studied autopsy materials from patients who died from COVID-19. They tried to understand which tissues and in what measure were infected with the virus, what exactly happens when SARS-CoV-2 enters the respiratory tract of a person, and also they investigated how exactly the infection in the lung cells affects the body's immune response.

The study led scientists to conclude that there are two phases of infection in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. In the early phase of the desease, the viral load in the lungs is high and promotes increased gene expression to trigger the immune response.

At a later stage of the coronavirus desease, the virus is no longer present in the lung tissue, but unfortunately for a patient, too severe damage to the lungs makes it difficult to recover.

Also, the data obtained during the study showed that the immune system is able to attack SARS-CoV-2, but this response varies between patients and even in different parts of the same lung of a particular person.