Scientists at the University of Washington in St. Louis have proved that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is more dangerous and deadly compared to the influenza virus. This is reported in an article published in the British Medical Journal.
Researchers analyzed information on 3,641 patients with COVID-19 admitted to US hospitals from February 1 to June 17, 2020, as well as 12,676 patients hospitalized with influenza from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2019. The average age of patients with COVID-19 or influenza was 69 years.
It turned out that COVID-19 more often than flu causes complications in which the patient needs hospitalization, mechanical ventilation and intensive care. Patients with coronavirus spend more time in hospital and die almost five times more often. Of the 12,676 patients with influenza, 674 (5.3 percent) died, and of the 3641 patients with COVID-19, 676 (18.5 percent) died.
Despite the fact that both diseases are similar, a special property of SARS-CoV-2 is that it affects not only the respiratory, but also other organs. The infection causes liver and kidney damage, cardiovascular disease, stroke, severe septic shock, lowers blood pressure, causes excessive blood clotting, and contributes to obscure diabetes. In some patients, blood sugar spikes, requiring insulin.