Most COVID-19 Deaths May Be The Result of a Completely Different Infection
COVID-19 is no
longer classed as a global health emergency by the
World Health Organization, but scientists are still working hard to understand more about the
virus and its impact – including how the
coronavirus affects the body and leads to death.
A new analysis suggests that a high percentage of people who required help from a ventilator due to a COVID-19 infection also developed secondary bacterial
pneumonia. This pneumonia was responsible for a higher mortality rate than the COVID-19 infection.
So while COVID-19 may have put these patients in the hospital, it was actually an infection brought on by the use of a mechanical ventilator that was more likely to be the cause of death when this infection didn't respond to treatment.