A physician cares for a COVID-19 patient in an intensive care unit in São Paulo. A new hypothesis suggests injury to blood vessels may drive some patients’ deadly spiral into critical illness.
By Catherine MatacicScience’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.Frank Ruschitzka told his pathologist to be ready before the first COVID-19 patient died.
In early March, Ruschitzka, who leads the cardiology department at University Hospital Zürich, noticed that patients with the disease had strange symptoms for what was then thought to be chiefly a respiratory infection.
Many patients had acute kidney failure, organ damage, and mysterious blood clots. Several weeks later, the first body was autopsied: Tiny clots and dead cells