Singapore: According to one study, people who have recovered from Covid-19, especially those with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions, are at risk of developing blood clots due to a persistent and overactive immune response.
The study, led by researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, found that recovered Covid-19 patients had twice the normal number of circulating endothelial cells (CECs) shed by damaged blood vessel walls.
The increased levels of CECs indicate that blood vessel injury is still visible after recovery from viral infection.
The recovered Covid-19 patients also continued to produce high levels of cytokines – proteins produced by immune cells that activate the immune response against pathogens – even in the absence of the virus.
Unusually high numbers of immune cells, known as T cells, that attack and destroy viruses were also present in the blood of recovered Covid-19 patients.
The presence of both cytokines and higher levels of immune cells suggests that the immune systems of recovered Covid-19 patients remained activated even after the virus disappeared, the findings published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal eLife revealed.
The researchers hypothesize that these persistently activated immune responses could attack the blood vessels of recovered Covid-19 patients, cause even more damage, and further increase the risk of blood clots forming.
“Although Covid-19 is primarily a respiratory infection, the virus can also affect the lining of blood vessels and cause inflammation and damage. Leakage from these damaged blood vessels causes blood clots to form that can result in the types of complications seen in patients. hospitalization, ”said Florence Chioh, research assistant at NTU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.
The study “makes a strong case for closely monitoring recovered Covid-19 patients, especially those with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions such as hypertension and diabetes that have weakened blood vessels,” said Christine Cheung, assistant professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of NTU. Medicine.
The team collected and analyzed blood samples from 30 Covid-19 patients a month after they recovered from the infection and were released from the hospital.
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