Blood thinners are a standard treatment from the outset. The clotting seems to be so widespread.
We are going to have so many excess strokes in the data when we look back on 2020, compared to other years…
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just in time for the republican convention!
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That’s the answer, and the clots seem to be in spite of anticoagulation. I can’t answer if these are normal clotting gone haywire or some other novel mechanism, but it is not a good thing.
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To find out what might be going on, the researchers studied 41 COVID-19 patients hospitalized at University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. Seventeen of these patients were in the ICU, including nine who were on ventilators. They compared blood from these patients with samples taken from healthy individuals who were matched for age and sex.
Using differential gene analysis, the researchers found that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, appears to trigger genetic changes in platelets. In laboratory studies, they studied platelet aggregation, an important component of blood clot formation, and observed COVID-19 platelets aggregated more readily. They also noted that these changes significantly altered how platelets interacted with the immune system, likely contributing to inflammation of the respiratory tract that may, in turn, result in more severe lung injury.
Surprisingly, Campbell and his colleagues didn’t detect evidence of the virus in the vast majority of platelets, suggesting that it could be promoting the genetic changes within these cells indirectly.
One possible mechanism is inflammation, according to Bhanu Kanth Manne, Ph.D., one of the study’s lead authors and a research associate with the University of Utah Molecular Medicine Program (U2M2). In theory, inflammation caused by COVID-19 could affect megakaryocytes, the cells that produce platelets. As a result, critical genetic alterations are passed down from megakaryocytes to the platelets, which, in turn, make them hyperactive.
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well that sucks…
ETA:
“In test tube studies, the researchers found that pre-treating platelets from SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with aspirin did prevent this hyperactivity. These findings suggest aspirin may improve outcomes; however, this will need further study in clinical trials. For now, Campbell warns against using aspirin to treat COVID-19 unless recommended by your physician.”
Combined with (admittedly weak) evidence that NSAID’s may increase morbidity and mortality, I am not sure where to go other than wait for more info.
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Humbly asking you and others with medical background to steer me in the right direction. Early on I read of some preliminary studies linking blood type and gender to mortality rates. They were both really lucky for me…has there been any further validation of that?
(It was something out of China, and type-o blood and females were “safer,” as it were.)
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Yes. The immune system is tricky. Rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s Disease, Lupus, even type-1 Diabetes. So many diseases we understand now are autoimmune problems.
A deadly flu that causes secondary autoimmune problems is pretty sucky, indeed.
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Like Reagan was with AIDS? I think they are making the safe, if evil, bet that the American political system will continue to work like it has for ages, by granting complete impunity to people in power.
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I remember reading about that, but I don’t remember reading anything with finality concerning it. I know some blood types tend to more accurately test positive than others. I think it must be negligible, compared to the risks involved in having preexisting conditions.
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It sounds morbid, but I hope what you describe is possible. My fear is by the end of fall and into winter, the results of these policies are going to be overwhelmingly, horrifically obvious to each and every household in the US.
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Oh I agree that it will probably be unavoidably obvious to every household in the country, I just don’t think that is enough to actually move us to punish those responsible. I have a feeling that we’ll succumb to the urge to “move on” and avoid facing the truth that the deaths were avoidable even if our death toll climbs into the millions.
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i feel like a few years back the quack science was that every disease was caused by inflammation of various bits of the body. it sounded to me like ye old humors theory of medicine. only now, somewhere there is a “doctor” of homeopathy saying: “i was right, i was right.”
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Keep it closed until November, and then we’ll see.
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It’s a pretty widespread thing. I have crohn’s myself. A lot of people get relief from immunosuppressants for many different issues. The human immune system is such a complex and improvizational process, it’s amazing we survive ourselves.
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As with everything else in biology, it only has to be “good enough”, where that means “most of these people survive to pass on their genes”. 
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For those who haven’t seen it yet -
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That guy makes used car salesmen look like saints.
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My true fear is that one of the “wrong” forecasts will be proven correct, in that warmer weather inhibited the spread of the virus. As temps cool, folks move to indoor recreation and some kids return to school, I am watching closely for a large spike. I hope this is wrong, but I could see it.
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Even Joe Biden agrees that Canada needs to keep the border shut to Americans for the foreseeable future
I’m actually surprised we 
aren’t requiring trains change crews and trucks swap out tractors and drivers at the border.
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Yes, exactly. I don’t think it is the temperatures, I think it is the level of infection; the higher concentrated dose of the virus we get when we are in enclosed, poorly ventilated areas for longer periods of time. The less you get when you are infected, the better your chances of beating it.
Once we clamp down the windows, turn off the AC, and crowd into our homes, offices and classrooms, with the nation at what appears to be complete saturation with the virus…
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