Whygoogleissexist t1_ixs0hkc wrote
It’s pretty clear from the literature that there is a period -typically- 4-10 days after viral infection where you are more vulnerable to bacterial pneumonia. This is because the immune response to combat a virus thru the production of molecules called interferons suppress some of the immune cells you need to combat bacteria. The window of vulnerability coincides with this anti-viral interferon response. In fact it’s thought that most people who died in the 1918 flu pandemic died of secondary bacterial pneumonia and not the flu per se.
Here are some references:
https://www.nature.com/articles/nm1765
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