Nigeria news : COVID-19: Expert explains adverse effect of coronavirus on elderly people

A medical expert at the Federal Medical Center, FMC, Makurdi, Benue State, Ifegbike Kalu, have highlighted reasons why elderly people are more at risk of contacting Coronavirus than the youths.

Records have it that since the outbreak of Coronavirus in Wuhan Province of China in 2019, most of its victims have been elderly people.

However, Dr Kalu, in a chat with DAILY POST disclosed that weak immunity and underlying conditions could make elderly people susceptible to Coronavirus.

Kalu explained that underlying health conditions may weaken the immune system thereby making it difficult for the white blood cells to fight diseases in older people.

He said: “The truth is that even when it has to do with other illnesses there are certain factors that make you susceptible even if you are very young or old. For example, if you have Malaria the young ones will likely have more complications than the older people.

“And the same applies to Coronavirus, immunity in the old is not so strong. I won’t like to go into details of white blood cells, how their migration and strength fight infections which are very slow and this can be very overwhelming.

“In the old, nutritional deficiency and sometimes these old people have underlying condition and other issues. Underlying ailments have a way of boosting the chances of old people coming down with severe infections including Coronavirus. Like I said deficiency issues is part of them, you have to eat well and have nutrients to fight diseases.”

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s coronavirus toll now stands at 12 following the confirmation of four new cases by the federal Ministry of Health on Thursday.