“cytokine Storm” Debunked: Machine Learning Exposes The True Killer Of Covid-19 Patients

Scientists at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have discovered that unresolved secondary bacterial pneumonia is a key driver of death in patients with COVID-19, affecting nearly half of the patients who required mechanical ventilation support. Their findings, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, also debunk the theory that COVID-19 causes a “cytokine storm” leading to death. By applying machine learning to medical record data, the scientists found that secondary bacterial pneumonia that does not resolve was a key driver of death in patients with COVID-19. Bacterial infections may even exceed death rates from the viral infection itself. The study highlights the importance of preventing, looking for, and aggressively treating secondary bacterial pneumonia in critically ill patients with severe pneumonia, including those with COVID-19.