The COVID-19 has been showing new symptoms in people one after another. Once the common symptoms like fever, cough, and shortness of breath were discovered – it took us long to find out many other strange symptoms that have been puzzling doctors.
First, it was found that Coronavirus is causing people to lose the sense of smell.
It was also found that Coronavirus is causing skin rashes and infections in younger people.
Last week, it was found that Coronavirus is causing sudden strokes in anyone under 50 years of age.
But now, another symptom has appeared, and it is quite sinister.
A Coronavirus patient had to lose his leg because of a dangerous blood clot
Three weeks ago, Dr Hugh Cassiere of North Shore University Hospital in New York, came across a 45-year old patient with peculiar symptoms that he hadn’t seen in his entire career of 24 years.
He had all the common symptoms of Coronavirus, he was tested positive, and then he was admitted into ICU.
Suddenly, he developed a large blood clot in his leg that seemed to have no connection with the Coronavirus infection. The clot was so dangerous that doctors to amputate his leg from below his knee.
Dr Cassiere was taken aback:
One-third of COVID-19 patients face the problem of clotting blood
But then Dr Cassiere isn’t the only one who is surprised. Other doctors from Canada and UK have reported that critically infected COVID-19 patients are showing high frequency of blood clotting.
More often than not, these blood clots can be life-threatening if they travel to the heart, lungs, or the brain. These blood clots are also responsible for causing the brain strokes in people under 50 years of age.
The actual number of COIVD-19 patients having blood clots is reported to be around one-third of the total number, according to a study from the Netherlands.
How is Coronavirus making the blood clot?
Doctors don’t know if the Coronavirus is causing the clots, or whether they are formed by body’s immune system trying to fight off the virus.
ICU Doctors have found that when patients are being plugged with ECMO to support their hearts and lungs, their large catheters (also called as cannulas) are getting clogged immediately. Dr Cassiere said:
“As soon as you put the cannulas in and you turn the machine on, there’s clotting. That is very, very surprising.”
And now patients are being given blood thinners to prevent the clotting. But surprisingly, this still doesn’t work on COVID-19 patients.
“I’m thoroughly surprised that we’re not seeing a lot of bleeding, which is a little scary. In the back of my mind, I’m thinking, maybe the usual anticoagulation isn’t enough.”
Some Doctors are thinking that Aspirin might help
Some doctors have debated the possibility of using an anti-platelet drug such as aspirin, which will prevent the platelets from sticking together. But this is a mere hypothesis and no research has been done on how aspirin would affect the other parts and functions of the body in COVID-19 patients.
Dr Crowther says:
“Nobody knows what the correct way of preventing this clotting is or if we can even prevent it. There are many studies going on now looking at various strategies.”
As of now, Doctors are still waiting for answers while this mysterious symptom has been either killing people or leaving them without arms or legs even if they recover from Coronavirus.
Featured Image Courtesy: WebMD