This is one of the dark discoveries of the pandemic:the disease Covid-19, initially perceived as a virulent respiratory disease, attacks much more than the lungs. Recent observations by American doctors indeed indicate that the coronavirus would also cause the formation of blood clots in blood vessels. This is known to cause phlebitis, pulmonary embolisms, heart attacks and strokes; so many scenarios that have been observed in Covid-19 patients who had no risk factor other than having contracted the new coronavirus.
First in China, then in Europe, and now in the United States, doctors are learning on the job and thus try to document the phenomenon every day. "I've seen hundreds of cases of clots in my career, but I've never seen so many extreme abnormal cases “, explained to AFP Behnood Bikdeli, specialist in internal medicine at the university medical center of Columbia.
While clots are relatively rare, their number has indeed doubled since the start of the pandemic in the United States, and would not spare young people; Canadian actorNick Cordero 41, known for his roles on Broadway, had to have his right leg amputated after 18 days in intensive care in Los Angeles, due to an undisplaceable clot. And if against the clots, anticoagulants are usually administered, it does not always work and sometimes causes internal bleeding, as was the case with Nick Cordero.
The enigma remains:why this coagulation? Perhaps this is due to the cardiovascular or pulmonary history of many patients, says Behnood Bikdeli. Perhaps the clots are a consequence of the inflammatory outbreak associated with the disease. “Any acute disease, by itself, predisposes to the creation of clots “, also explains the doctor. A final hypothesis is that the coronavirus acts directly on coagulation. But at this stage, nothing is proven.
