I'm in large part guessing here based on clinical observation, but my feeling is that you can extend this logic to other syndromes that accompany COVID-19. For example, we often see worsening liver function in the setting of this illness (albeit delayed by a few days). This could be explained in a number of ways, one of which is by impaired perfusion within capillary beds in the liver. Further, there is a myocarditis-like picture we sometimes see as well that could be explained by direct viral infection or again by impaired perfusion of the cardiac muscle by small vessel clotting.
When the thrombotic disease progresses, you start to see a more macro version: think strokes and pulmonary emboli in patients who are otherwise low risk at baseline. Thus, there's some interpolation going on here.
Hope that makes some sense.
A dear friend is dying of pancreatic cancer. And one of the key reasons that she's still alive was getting thrombosis under control. Initially with IV heparin, and now with Lovenox.
Are those commonly used for COVID patients? Or do they use oral anticoagulants?
Based on our institutional protocol, hospitalized COVID-19 patients receive therapeutic dose Lovenox, Eliquis, or IV heparin.[1] Lovenox is the first line treatment, but is contraindicated in patients with, among others things, severely impaired renal function. If these patients are able to tolerate oral medications, they can be given Eliquis. If not, they’re typically put on IV heparin drips (and are subject to the uncomfortable and burdensome blood draws that come with them).
Typically, all of these patients are discharged on two weeks of Eliquis if there are no major contraindications. The thinking is that the risk of damage to the body by microthrombi doesn’t necessarily end just because the patient is stable enough to go home.
Of course, with all of these medications, preventing clotting has to be balanced with preventing bleeding. We’ve had to stay vigilant for things like GI bleeds and hemorrhagic strokes, as these things become more common when everyone in the hospital is being heavily anticoagulated.
[1] Therapeutic dosing in this case is higher than typical prophylactic dosing. In the case of Lovenox, it would be something like 40 mg twice a day for the therapeutic dose versus 40 mg once a day for the prophylactic dose, which is what would be used in non-COVID-19 patients to prevent thromboembolism.
It's wild to see how much the thinking has changed on how this disease works.
ACE2 is expressed extensively in renal tissue, so the virus is transported there in the blood, infects cells, hijacks the cellular apparatus to replicate, and then explodes to cell to continue its march of death. So I think your speculation is a bit misplaced
What ever data 'sources' you're reading are wrong.
> The name of the virus comes from the fact that it is genetically a corona virus.
This is a weird claim, since in the post above you specifically pointed out that its name contains "Severe Acute RESPIRATORY Syndrome", which yes, is a hint that it was thought to be respiratory. But four other human coronaviruses don't have "respiratory" in their name. It's not like coronaviruses automatically get that name.
> There are 7 known corona viruses that affect humans and every single one of them are respiratory.
This is true, but I don't think that means that they are "not allowed" to have symptoms that are outside the lungs. The table in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus#Infection_in_human... lists diarrhea as a fairly frequent symptom of MERS (26%) and SARS-1 (20-25%). As a molecular biologist you will know more about this than I do, but it looks to me like these respiratory viruses can affect different parts of the body. That is also how it looks to medical professionals in the field, as discussed in the featured article.
> What ever data 'sources' you're reading are wrong.
You had plenty of opportunities in this thread to post your own sources. I think the only time you even referred to a source was to the Wikipedia page which I quoted back at you, which made you sad.
There you go, 'son'. So, still obviously wrong and argumentative. Is this even a real account? Or just an insult-bot?
Weird, your account says you joined in 2012 but it seems like today might be your first day on the internet?
How many coronaviruses can infect humans?
229E, NL63, OC43, HKU1, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2.
You said "hundreds". What did you mean when you said hundreds?
Of the 7 strains of Coronavirus that you just listed..which of those cause respiratory illness?
MERS caused kidney failure in some patients.