Is this the immune response you can mitigate with an anti-histimine, like Benadryl?
“Is this the immune response you can mitigate with an anti-histimine, like Benadryl?”
No, not at all, it’s not an allergy response. The immune response involved is the body unleashing antibodies to attack the flu virus.
A virus like the swine flu or the bird flu, that has both human and animal elements, seems capable of provoking an out of control immune response in young people with a strong immune system.
The flu is a respiratory disease and a cytokine storm in the lungs can drown the victim. In 1918 young adults were often healthy in the morning and dead by nightfall. It’s something that hasn’t been seen since and it’s why the public health community seems to overreact when swine flu or avian flu are a possibility. It won’t be an overreaction if we get a repeat of 1918.