
Coronavirus Causes Damaging Blood Clots from Brain to Toes - samizdis
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-04/coronavirus-causes-blood-clots-harming-organs-from-brain-to-toes
======
synaesthesisx
So this is extremely interesting, because recently several studies have shown
an association between low Vitamin D levels and severe COVID-19 outcomes. This
is particularly relevant, because Vitamin D appears to play a role in clotting
factors as well; low Vitamin D levels have been independently associated with
an increased risk of clotting events and death. There are studies
investigating whether Vitamin D deficiency can cause increased thrombin
generation and a hypercoagulable state.

"Of 49 patients with mild symptoms of Covid-19 in three hospitals in southern
Asian countries, only two had low levels of vitamin D; of 104 patients with
critical or severe symptoms, only four did not have low levels of vitamin D."
[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/03/time-take-
seriou...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/03/time-take-seriously-
link-vitamin-d-deficiency-serious-covid/)

"The VDI (Vitamin D Insufficiency) prevalence in ICU patients was 84.6%, vs.
57.1% in floor patients. Strikingly, 100% of ICU patients less than 75 years
old had VDI. Coagulopathy was present in 62.5% of ICU COVID-19 patients, and
92.3% were lymphocytopenic. Conclusions: VDI is highly prevalent in severe
COVID-19 patients"
[https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.24.20075838v...](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.24.20075838v1)

"Vitamin D has been shown to have an anticoagulant effect. A decrease in
25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration has also been associated with an
increased risk of venous thromboembolism. "
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4069050/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4069050/)

There is also other literature suggesting that Vitamin D can reduce the risk
for the "cytokine storm" which leads to acute respiratory distress syndrome by
reducing the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (while increasing the
expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines). Again, I'm not a doctor but
supplementation is likely to be fairly low risk. There is increasing evidence
that there's some sort of correlation and it may be worth exploring.

~~~
pmoriarty
You might want to take Vitamin K along with your Vitamin D, particularly if
you're taking large doses of the latter, which can cause calcification of the
soft tissues in your body, while Vitamin K makes sure that calcium gets
deposited in your bones, as it should. Here is one of many articles that talks
about the connection:

[https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-and-
vitamin-k](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-and-vitamin-k)

~~~
silverdrake11
Vitamin K also increases risk of blood clots.
[https://health.clevelandclinic.org/vitamin-k-can-
dangerous-t...](https://health.clevelandclinic.org/vitamin-k-can-dangerous-
take-warfarin/)

~~~
JulianMorrison
When you get a blood clot, Warfarin that they give you for it is literally a
vitamin K blocker.

~~~
legerdemain
Warfarin is also literally used as rat poison, with the same mechanism of
action.

~~~
mmastrac
"The dose makes the poison."

Botox is a pretty powerful tool for doctors when applied locally in small
quantities, but often fatal in Botulism. Water is necessary for life, but
hyponatremia is a real thing.

------
shawnz
An interesting explanation as to why it might have these effects, from MedCram
on YouTube: [https://youtu.be/Aj2vB_VITXQ](https://youtu.be/Aj2vB_VITXQ)

~~~
jansan
The video is interesting, but to the claim that "once it (the virus) gets
inside the body, that's where it causes its greatest damage" (at 2:54 into the
video) he should have added "in some cases".

~~~
ashtonkem
Once someone gets mauled by a pack of roaming coronaviruses, give me a call.
Until then, I think we can agree that coronavirus is more dangerous inside the
body than outside.

~~~
jansan
The video distiguishes between "inside the lungs" and "inside the body". It
claims that there is more damage done inside the rest of body than inside the
lungs. At the end of the video it becomes clear that this may happen only in
certain cases. Watch the video and you will understand.

~~~
ashtonkem
Ah, that is a relevant distinction.

------
cs702
This story in today's Washington Post seems relevant too:

"15 children in New York City have developed a puzzling and serious
inflammatory syndrome possibly linked to covid-19

\- The condition is similar to what doctors have observed in Europe"

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/05/05/coronavirus...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/05/05/coronavirus-
children-kawasaki-syndrome/)

~~~
ThrowItAway2Day
I remember how shocked I was when I first read about the increase in strokes
associated with covid-19. Every time I read a new development about what the
virus can do, I'm just dumbfounded. Either the virus is mutating, it has
multiple drastically strands, or there is so much we still don't know about
it. Either way, it makes me very hesitant about going out even if things are
opened up.

~~~
JKCalhoun
My (armchair) assumption is that we are still learning.

I'm reminded of the film, "The Andromeda Strain" (1971) — such an intelligent
movie. Still feels cogent almost 50 years later.

~~~
gshdg
Based off a fantastic Crichton book, fwiw.

------
stared
See D-dimer concentration in surviving and non-surviving patients:
[https://els-jbs-prod-cdn.jbs.elsevierhealth.com/cms/attachme...](https://els-
jbs-prod-
cdn.jbs.elsevierhealth.com/cms/attachment/7eca3d03-0704-49fe-a67d-54540c15feee/gr2.jpg)
It sky-rockets in non-surviving patients. For the context, D-dimer is a fibrin
degradation product, a small protein fragment present in the blood after a
blood clot is degraded by fibrinolysis.

(Fig. 2 Temporal changes in laboratory markers from illness onset in patients
hospitalised with COVID-19 from "Clinical course and risk factors for
mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective
cohort study"
[https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736\(20\)30566-3/fulltext))

------
pvaldes
Does not explain why Spain and Italy that are Mediterranean countries with
lots of sun were hit hard, but Norway was spared, for example.

~~~
rrrrrrrrrrrryan
Interestingly, Norwegians are tremendously cognizant about keeping their
vitamin D levels up:

[https://life.spectator.co.uk/articles/on-vitamin-d-sun-
starv...](https://life.spectator.co.uk/articles/on-vitamin-d-sun-starved-
brits-should-look-to-norway/)

I think another contributing factor is cultural: southern Europeans touch,
kiss, and hug each other more than northern Europeans, and may tend to sit and
stand a little closer, etc.

------
djsumdog
Hasn't this been known for a while? I recall stroke was always a risk and one
of the ways people could die from COVID-19 (including ARDS and Pneumonia)

~~~
roenxi
Before the evidence is overwhelming it is highly likely; before that probable;
priorly possible and previously hinted at.

So if the coronavirus is doing something in the blood then there probably was
evidence of it from the start but it is still newsworthy if the evidence has
passed a new threshold.

It would make for some interesting implications if coronavirus detected in the
respiratory system isn't the mechanism for bad cases of COVID-19. Some of the
drug trials done looking at viral loads would be partially invalidated.

------
Joof
It's supposed to look like HAPE -- blood clots are actually coming in and
blocking blood vessels in the lungs.

------
acd
Does Nitric oxide make the blod clot less?

~~~
casefields
"Weller’s doubts began around 2010, when he was researching nitric oxide, a
molecule produced in the body that dilates blood vessels and lowers blood
pressure. He discovered a previously unknown biological pathway by which the
skin uses sunlight to make nitric oxide."

[https://www.outsideonline.com/2380751/sunscreen-sun-
exposure...](https://www.outsideonline.com/2380751/sunscreen-sun-exposure-
skin-cancer-science)

------
jswizzy
Aren't those side effects of being hooked up to a ventilator?

~~~
mfer
No. People are getting blood clots and even having strokes from them without
ever being connected to a ventilator. The blood clots can happen with no or
only mild symptoms.

[https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/health/strokes-coronavirus-
yo...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/health/strokes-coronavirus-young-
adults/index.html)

------
amelius
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23023490](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23023490)

------
ergl
I thought this was going to be a roundabout article about the effects of being
on my chair all day during lockdown.

~~~
101404
I bought a (cheapish) height adjustable desk. Would recommend. Stand up
occasionally and walk on the spot or dance or something. Especially good
during online meetings :D

------
growlist
Time to buy shares in makers of novel anticoagulants.

------
LatteLazy
These articles are not helpful and should be discouraged.

~~~
api
How is reputable information not helpful?

~~~
mns
well, it's Bloomberg citing one person only, it's not a scientific paper. I do
find it quite worrying that when news gets hold of all kind of edge cases or
special cases, with barely any scientific data to back it up (from COVID
causes X, Y and Z) everyone has no issue with the scarce facts. When an actual
antibody test or special cases (like the one from France with more scientific
explanations and detailing how a guy who was swabbed in December got a
positive result), we need to be careful as the science is not valid or there
are serious doubts over minor statistical error.

~~~
raheemm
The article cited doctors from Harvard, Brown, Rhode Island, Italy, Dr. Fauci,
etc.

~~~
steveeq1
Which also can leave stuff out for sensationalistic reasons, which the media
is known for. After all the deliberately misleading information from "the
news", I no longer take it seriously and instead pay attention to peer-
reviewed journals with public data.

