<
https://web.archive.org/web/20231107161231/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/covid-19-risk-heart-attack-stroke>
'Scientists have noticed that COVID-19 can trigger serious cardiovascular
problems, especially among older people who have a buildup of fatty material in
their blood vessels. But now a new study has revealed why and shown that
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, directly infects the arteries of
the heart.
The study also found that the virus can survive and grow inside the cells that
form plaque—the buildup of fat-filled cells that narrow and stiffen the
arteries leading to atherosclerosis. If the plaque breaks, it can block blood
flow and cause a heart attack or a stroke. The SARS-CoV-2 infection makes the
situation worse by inflaming the plaque and increasing the chance that it
breaks free.
This can explain long-term cardiovascular effects seen in some, if not all,
COVID-19 patients.
SARS-CoV-2 virus has already been found to infect many organs outside the
respiratory system. But until now it hadn't been shown to attack the arteries.
"No one was really looking if there was a direct effect of the virus on the
arterial wall," says Chiara Giannarelli, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Health,
in New York, who led the study. Giannarelli noted that her team detected viral
RNA—the genetic material in the virus—in the coronary arteries. “You would not
expect to see [this] several months after recovering from COVID.”
Mounting evidence now shows that SARS-CoV-2 is not only a respiratory virus,
but it can also affect the heart and many other organ systems, says Ziyad
Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
Al-Aly's research has shown that the risk of developing heart and
cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure, stroke, irregular heart
rhythms, cardiac arrest, and blood clots increases two to five times within a
year of COVID-19, even when the person wasn't hospitalized.
"This important study links, for the first time, directly the SARS-CoV-2 virus
with atherosclerotic plaque inflammation," says Charalambos Antoniades, chair
of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.'
Via Violet Blue’s
Pandemic Roundup: November 9, 2023
https://www.patreon.com/posts/pandemic-roundup-92570484
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
