USA Today: How and why coronavirus makes you sick
UC expert explains the mechanics of how people develop COVID-19
USA Today turned to Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum of the UC Division of Infectious Diseases as the lone medical source for a story explaining how the coronavirus spreads from person to person and physically impacts people who develop COVID-19.
Illustration from USA Today showing how the coronavirus infects people. Photo credit/Kevin Necessary/Cincinnati Enquirer
Dr. Fichtenbaum told USA Today the virus is spread when an infected person expels tiny droplets from the mouth, throat or lungs, usually during a cough or sneeze.
“Viruses need something else’s machinery to help generate them,” Fichtenbaum says. “They’re what we call a parasite.”
Fichtenbaum said the reason some people with COVID-19 lose their sense of smell is because the virus somehow interferes with the olfactory nerve, which transmits sensory data to the brain and is responsible for the sense of smell.
Read the article here.
Featured image at top Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum/Photo credit/Colleen Kelley/UC Creative Services + Brand
Find the latest details related to coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, and follow UC's latest information with regard to the virus.
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