COVID-19 was considered to be a lung disease.
But it actually directly attacks the body’s defense system, spreads and causes a general inflammation of the endothelial tissue, which disrupts its protective function thus leading to complete organ failures.
CV was considered to be a lung disease. Up until now, it has been unclear as to why patients are sustaining life-threatening organ failure in organs other than the lungs.
An interdisciplinary team from University Hospital Zurich has now shown that SARS-CoV-2 directly elicits inflammation in blood vessels and that this can lead to organ failure and even death.
The first COVID-19 patients with severe progressions of the disease suffered mainly from viral and difficult-to-treat lung inflammations as a complication.
This is a typical illness connected to coronaviruses, as they primarily attack respiratory tracts.
Doctors realized, however, that an increasing number of patients were displaying cardiovascular problems and multiple organ failure and it was unclear as to whether and to what extent these were connected to the inflammation of the patients’ lungs.
As it mainly affected older people, doctors assumed that the strain placed on patients by the virus was triggering cardiovascular problems that are typical for this age group.
Changes and SARS-COV-2 in every blood vessel
During analyses of tissue samples taken from deceased COVID-19 patients taken following an autopsy, pathologists at University Hospital Zurich have now discovered that patients are not just suffering from an inflammation of the lungs, but also from an inflammation of all endothelial tissue in a wide range of organs.
In addition, pathologist Prof. Zsuzsanna Varga has been able to use an electron microscope to verify for the first time that SARS-CoV-2 is present and causes cell necrosis in endothelial tissue.
Endothelial tissue is a cell layer that acts as a protective shield in blood vessels and regulates and balances out various processes in the microvessels.
The disruption of this regulatory process can, for example, cause circulatory disorders in organs and body tissue, resulting in cellular necrosis and thus to the death of these organs or tissue.
Virus attacking the body’s own defense system
Researchers have concluded that the virus does not attack the host via the lungs, as was previously assumed, but instead it directly attacks the body’s defense system via the ACE2 receptors found in endothelial tissue, spreads and causes a general inflammation of the endothelial tissue, which disrupts its protective function.
This means that the virus not only triggers the inflammation of the lungs, which then causes further complications, but is also directly responsible for systemic endotheliitis, an inflammation of all endothelial tissue in the body which affects all vessel beds – in heart, brain, lung and renal vessels as well as vessels in the intestinal tract.
The consequences are fatal: this results in severe microcirculatory disturbances that damage the heart, trigger pulmonary embolisms and vascular occlusions in the brain and intestinal tract and can also lead to multiple organ failure and even death.
The endothelial tissue of younger patients is usually capable of coping well with the attacks launched by the virus.
The situation is different for patients suffering from hypertension, diabetes, heart failure or coronary heart diseases, all of which have one thing in common – their endothelial function is markedly impaired.
If patients such as these become infected with SARS-COV-2, they will be particularly at risk, as their already weakened endothelial function will diminish even further, especially during the phase in which the virus reproduces the most.
Dual-pronged approach to save high-risk patients
“Through our study, we are now able to provide evidence to back up our hypothesis that COVID-19 is not only able to affect the lungs, but also the blood vessels in different organs.
“COVID is a systemic inflammation of the blood vessels and we may now also refer to the disease as COVID-Endotheliitis,” said Prof. Frank Ruschitzka.
Frank Ruschitzka also believes that treatment for COVID-19 patients must address two points: “We have to tackle viruses replication and protecting and stabilizing patients’ vascular systems at the same time.
“This applies primarily to patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases and have already been diagnosed as having an impaired endothelial function, as well as to those of our patients with known risk factors for a severe progression of COVID-19.“
After aggressively promoting an anti-malaria drug as a “miracle” in the fight against COVID-19—a push that flew in the face of repeated warnings from experts—President Donald Trump and Fox News personalities suddenly appear to be cooling on hydroxychloroquine just as a new study reports the drug could lead to a higher death rate.
“The fact of the matter is we don’t know,” Dr. Mehmet Oz told the hosts of Fox & Friends on Wednesday. “Thankfully these medications are prescriptions only… We are better off waiting for the randomized trials Dr. Fauci has been asking for.”
Dr. Oz, on Fox & Friends, says the VA study on hydroxychloroquine shows that “we don’t know” if it works and “we are better off waiting for the randomized trials Dr. Fauci has been asking for.”
Just an astonishing turnaround for a network that has been aggressively promoting it. pic.twitter.com/9EzzzNAzrQ
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) April 22, 2020
The segment was a head-spinning reversal for Oz, who less than a week ago encouraged Americans to participate in an at-home hydroxychloroquine clinical trial. “They mail you the pills, you start the protocol, tell them what happened… Be part of the solution,” he told Fox News viewers in a segment on April 16, the latest in Oz’s ongoing promotion of hydroxychloroquine on the conservative news network.
The attempt to strike a more cautious approach this week comes on the heels of new studies that showed hydroxychloroquine yielded no benefit in helping patients infected with the virus; one study on US veterans reported more deaths among those treated with the drug than those who received normal care.
When asked about the veterans’ study on Tuesday, Trump, perhaps the biggest hydroxychloroquine cheerleader of all, dodged.
“I don’t know of the report,” he said at his daily coronavirus briefing. “Obviously there have been some very good reports and perhaps this one’s not a good report. But we’ll be looking at it.”
The claim of ignorance appeared to track with what could be a retreat in Trump’s relentless hydroxychloroquine promotion. Politico reports that the president has significantly reduced his mentions of the drug in recent days, both in his coronavirus pressers and social media, as he shifts his focus to promoting open rebellion of Democratic governors over lockdown restrictions. Still, his repeated claims that hydroxychloroquine could be a “miracle” are unlikely to be forgotten.
HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains – Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents)…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2020
FACT:
Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and the wealthy wouldn’t fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.
Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2020 demands.
Source Mother Jones.
This Virus will never go away from the body. Always you are positive indeed may be at one point when they send you home is negative. After 3-4 weeks re tested you show positive indeed.
No one can get away from it. The Phase 2 and 3 and 4 and so on will continue till 2025 our population will come 6 Billions less. India is under Martial law indeed. Now we see protestors carrying guns in street and show Nazi Hitler Germany signs and also put to the arms as well. Now we all afraid of USA because when our master of White House says Liberate Detroit, Austin, and many other locations that reminds us of PLO Yasser Arafat saying liberate Palestine. Now If there is an election and PR Donald Trump says is null and void civil war and Martial Law then we all are doomed. I think we have 9 meals away from riots sooner than later? We need this is global pandemic needs global response teams. We must test all indeed as well. Why in middle east cleaning every where with a mist or some times wash streets with other chemicals and also military is training for future global pandemic?