Covid-19 Is Not A Respiratory Illness But A Vascular Disease, Claims New Study

Since the coronavirus hit the world, researchers have been studying the virus and discovering several new factors about the SARS-CoV-2 caused disease—Covid-19.

Just a few weeks ago, on 15 April, a report in the medical journal Lancet claimed that Covid-19-causing virus is primarily airborne.

Now, another study conducted by the University of San Diego claimed that the Covid-19 is not a respiratory illness, rather it is a vascular disease.

Vascular disease is any abnormal condition that affects the body’s vascular system—which is a network of blood vessels that includes arteries, veins and capillaries.

The most common vascular diseases include stroke, peripheral artery disease, carotid artery disease, arteriovenous malformation, pulmonary embolism (blood clots), deep vein thrombosis, chronic venous insufficiency and varicose veins.

According to Vascular Cures, “Vascular disease commonly occurs at sites of turbulent blood flow, such as when the blood flow in the arteries changes direction abruptly.”

The California based organisation said that every single person is at risk of vascular disease.

However, for several months experts have been calling Covid-19 a respiratory disease. But now, a study labelled the disease as a vascular illness.

This could explain the blood clots in some coronavirus infected patients and other issues like “Covid feet”, which are not at all classic symptoms of any respiratory disease.

What The Study Finds

The findings of the new study were published in the scientific journal Circulation Research.

This study shows with precision how virus damages the cells of the vascular system.

It was already found that besides several symptoms of novel coronavirus infection that coincide with respiratory issues, there are other cardiovascular problems that affect other parts of the human body.

The research team behind the new study included scientists from California-based Salk Institution.

The researchers have shown the form in which the novel virus attacks the vascular system.

The spike protein of the virus attacks the receptor Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)—an enzyme attached to the membranes of cells located in the arteries, heart, kidney, lungs and intestines.

It damages mitochondria that generate the energy of the cells and affects the endothelium, which lines the interior surface of blood vessels.

It is something that has been already observed but the exact mechanism and the role of spike protein were not previously known.

The spike protein or S protein is the main protein used as a target in many currently available Covid-19 vaccines.

However, the scientists created a pseudo-virus for research purpose that only included S protein but not the rest of the elements of the virus, to show that the protein is enough to cause the disease.

As per the study, the effects on the respiratory system are a consequence of the vascular tissue inflammation in the lungs.

Assistant research professor from SALK Institute, Uri Manor, who co-authored the study told Euro News that many people think that Covid-19 is a respiratory illness but in reality, it is a vascular disease.

“That could explain why some patients have strokes and why some people have issues in other parts of the body. The commonality between them is that they have vascular underpinnings,” he added.

Professor Rafael Manez Mendiluce, who has been treating Covid-19 patients for a year at Bellvitge University Hospital in Spain did not find this new study outcome surprising, considering the clinical pictures presented by those who had come to his department.

He wondered whether vascular issues don’t occur only in the most severe patients, once the infection has already started to dominate the respiratory tract, spreading through the blood.

He said that usually in mild Covid-19 cases, the infection is limited to the upper airways only.

According to Mendiluce, who has 30 years of experience in intensive care, the vascular issues could be related to the inflammatory response of a coronavirus patient’s immune system.

But this new study finding doesn’t drastically change the treatment possibilities for the severe Covid-19 cases, said the healthcare expert.

Mendiluce also said that antithrombotic drug treatments—anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs—have not proven to be particularly effective. So, as of now, the focus should be on the inflammation caused by the immune response, he added.

“We still don’t have treatment for thrombosis (the process of a blood clot, forming in a blood vessel) caused by the inflammation the response generated by the infection”, he said.

However, according to Mendiluce, this study doesn’t raise a question about the usefulness of the available vaccines.

But he thinks that now it should be better understood why Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines have caused some rare blood clotting.

While many raised concerns about vaccines, Prof Manor on his Twitter account clarified that the study only shows that the Covid-19 is a very insidious disease.

According to the researcher, the amount of spike protein in Covid-19 vaccines is too small to emerge as a problem.