When the immune system is activated, it also activates special anti-inflammatory compounds that help control the immune attack and prevent excessive damage to the lungs. In the case of a cytokine storm, this system is overwhelmed.

Current treatments for people affected by cytokine storms may actually worsen the problem. In most hospitals, patients are given high doses of corticosteroids on the reasoning that the anti-inflammatory effect will reduce the damage from immune overreaction. But those steroids reduce not only the harmful cytokines, but also the ones needed to kill the virus.

As a result, the increased viral load overrides the anti-inflammatory effect of the steroid, and the condition gets worse.

Some clinical studies suggest that treatment with corticosteroid may actually increase long-term mortality in these cases. Newer treatments selectively lower the harmful cytokines and chemokines without interfering with the ability of the immune system to clear a virus.

The best way to protect people from the severe effects of viral infections is to control the immune response, but not block it completely. The best thing would be to selectively dampen the components of immune-induced inflammation that cause the harm to the lungs — that is, a cytokine storm.