This is the part that is new to me. It was my understanding that human cells (I'll speak to organs in a moment) never actually cured themselves of any viral infection. They followed only 1 of 3 general paths after viral infection: engulfed and destroyed (phagocytosis), signaled to destroy themselves (apoptosis), or signaled to suppress (interferon) the production of molecules that the infection wants to produce.
As for the heart itself, I thought it had a special status like neurons throughout the body that the immune system essentially "agreed" not to attack it. Attacking such vital tissue was essentially a sign of another disorder in itself, a sign that the truce is broken. The heart regenerates only 1% of cells per year, so it can't endure a carpet bomb immune response. Human lungs barely survive the worst encounters with covid (susceptible at the same ACE2 pathway as heart cells), and they are far more regenerative.
Am I wrong about these points? My behavior for the last 1.5 years has been motivated entirely by the idea that covid infection could be lifelong. It would be less stressful to think otherwise. :)
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This is the part that is new to me. It was my understanding that human cells (I'll speak to organs in a moment) never actually cured themselves of any viral infection. They followed only 1 of 3 general paths after viral infection: engulfed and destroyed (phagocytosis), signaled to destroy themselves (apoptosis), or signaled to suppress (interferon) the production of molecules that the infection wants to produce.
As for the heart itself, I thought it had a special status like neurons throughout the body that the immune system essentially "agreed" not to attack it. Attacking such vital tissue was essentially a sign of another disorder in itself, a sign that the truce is broken. The heart regenerates only 1% of cells per year, so it can't endure a carpet bomb immune response. Human lungs barely survive the worst encounters with covid (susceptible at the same ACE2 pathway as heart cells), and they are far more regenerative.
Am I wrong about these points? My behavior for the last 1.5 years has been motivated entirely by the idea that covid infection could be lifelong. It would be less stressful to think otherwise. :)