The mystery of the silent lack of oxygen caused by the Corona virus

Since the Corona virus started spreading in the United States, scientists have solved many puzzling aspects about how the new Corona virus attacks the lungs and other parts of the body.

This was revealed by a study published in the journal Nature CommunicationsThat silent hypoxia is likely the result of a number of biological mechanisms that can occur simultaneously in the lungs of patients with Kurna.

What is considered one of the biggest and most life-threatening mysteries is how the virus causes “silent hypoxia”, a condition in which oxygen levels in the body are abnormally low, which can irreparably damage vital organs if not detected for long. time. .

Boston University biomedical engineers and University of Vermont collaborators have begun to solve this puzzle. Noting that although some patients suffer from a dangerous decrease in oxygen levels, many people with severe cases of Corona sometimes show no symptoms of shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.

In coronavirus patients, the infection is thought to first damage the lungs, rendering some parts of them unable to function properly, and these tissues lose oxygen and stop functioning, and no longer flood the bloodstream with oxygen, causing silent hypoxia. .

Some coronavirus patients have witnessed what some experts have described as blood oxygen levels “incompatible with life.” To help uncover the causes of silent hypoxia, Boston University biomedical engineers used computer models to test 3 different scenarios that help explain how and why they stop. The lungs serve to supply oxygen to the bloodstream.

Usually, the lungs perform the vital task of gas exchange, supplying oxygen to every cell in the body as we breathe and rid us of carbon dioxide every time we exhale.

Healthy lungs keep blood oxygenation between 95 and 100% – if it falls below 92%, this is cause for concern and your doctor may decide to intervene with supplemental oxygen.

The researchers first looked at how it affects COVID-19 The ability of the lungs to regulate the direction of the blood. Usually, if the lung areas don’t pick up a lot of oxygen due to infection damage, the blood vessels in those areas narrow.

This is actually a good thing lungs evolved for, because it forces blood to flow through oxygen-filled lung tissue, which then circulates throughout the body.

But according to the researchers, preliminary clinical data indicated that some patients’ lungs COVID-19 The ability to restrict blood flow to already damaged tissues has been lost and, in turn, those blood vessels are likely to open more, something that is difficult to see or measure with a CT scan.

Using a mathematical lung model, the team tested this theory and revealed that until blood oxygen levels drop to the levels seen in patients COVID-19Blood flow must be much higher than normal in areas of the lungs that are no longer able to collect oxygen, which contributes to low oxygen levels throughout the body.

Next, they examined how blood clotting affected blood flow in different areas of the lung, when the lining of the blood vessels became inflamed due to an infection. COVID-19In the lungs, blood clots can form so small that they are not seen during a medical examination.

They found, using computer modeling of the lungs, that this can induce silent hypoxia, but that alone oxygen levels are unlikely to drop to the lowest levels in patient data.