CHICAGO, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- A study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, suggests that only 4 percent of COVID-19 patients had the sky-high levels of immune molecules that signify a so-called "cytokine storm."
The researchers analyzed immune cells and molecules in blood samples from 168 COVID-19 patients, 26 influenza patients and 16 healthy people. The samples were drawn from influenza patients in 2019 or 2020, and from COVID-19 patients and healthy controls this year. They also collected information about how each patient fared - whether a patient ended up needing intensive care or mechanical ventilation - and whether he or she survived.