Autopsies of COVID-19 Victims Reveal Blood Vessel Damage

A University of Florida virologist assisted a team of medical researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City with interpreting microscopic images of tissue samples from COVID-19 victims. The researchers found extensive damage to small blood vessels, and they propose a mechanism linking vessel injury with biological pathways that lead to an immune system in overdrive.

New research might explain the mechanism behind a constellation of odd COVID-19 symptoms, such as strokes in young people, delirium, purple toes and children with Kawasaki-like vascular inflammation.

John Lednicky, Ph.D., a microbiology and virology research specialist within the University of Florida‘s College of Public Health and Health Professions, contributed to a new study that supports growing evidence of COVID-19 being more than a viral respiratory illness. It’s also an infectious disease of the vascular system, the research team says.

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