With all due respect to u/casuallyobservant, there is an additional and possibly more direct explanation for the clotting. The spike protein seeks cells with the ACE-2 receptor to infect. Those cells, found throughout the body, are primarily in endothelial cells, which are the cells that line the interior of the blood vessels, i.e. the veins and arteries. When these cells are damaged it usually signifies a broken blood vessel that requires clotting in order to stop a person from losing blood; in the case of Covid the cells are damaged from within, which still triggers the clotting but now the clotting factor is released within the blood stream rather than forming a scab outside the blood vessel. Worse, the clot-attracting blood is now circulating along with the virus to potentially lodge anywhere throughout the circulatory system. I've seen this explained in a number of places, but medcram.org has some of the best explanations.
It also affects heme directly, which is why different blood types are affected differently (apparently O is slightly better), but I know hemotologists who don't agree, and I haven't seen agreement on this, while the endothelial damage is much more evident. For what its worth.
You are correct. I failed to mention the damage to the endothelium that also occurs. Those videos I've seen where the microscopic examination of the blood cells shows such horrible damage to the cells themselves is appalling. Then, coupled with the damage to the lining in all of the pathways that carry the blood is a tragedy.
Thanks for clarifying further what I was attempting to explain.
With all due respect to u/casuallyobservant, there is an additional and possibly more direct explanation for the clotting. The spike protein seeks cells with the ACE-2 receptor to infect. Those cells, found throughout the body, are primarily in endothelial cells, which are the cells that line the interior of the blood vessels, i.e. the veins and arteries. When these cells are damaged it usually signifies a broken blood vessel that requires clotting in order to stop a person from losing blood; in the case of Covid the cells are damaged from within, which still triggers the clotting but now the clotting factor is released within the blood stream rather than forming a scab outside the blood vessel. Worse, the clot-attracting blood is now circulating along with the virus to potentially lodge anywhere throughout the circulatory system. I've seen this explained in a number of places, but medcram.org has some of the best explanations.
It also affects heme directly, which is why different blood types are affected differently (apparently O is slightly better), but I know hemotologists who don't agree, and I haven't seen agreement on this, while the endothelial damage is much more evident. For what its worth.
Thanks for the post.
You are correct. I failed to mention the damage to the endothelium that also occurs. Those videos I've seen where the microscopic examination of the blood cells shows such horrible damage to the cells themselves is appalling. Then, coupled with the damage to the lining in all of the pathways that carry the blood is a tragedy.
Thanks for clarifying further what I was attempting to explain.