Coronavirus: Researchers solve a puzzle about the difficult course - new approaches for therapeutic options

Coronavirus: Researchers from Wuppertal and Hanover have unraveled a building block in severe cases - and have thus discovered possible new approaches for therapeutic options.

• Researchers worldwide analyze severe curves , one infection with the * coronavirus can cause.
• The diverse symptoms *   of research * are still puzzling.
• But a large international study now claims to have found a key.
• Here you will find the basic facts about the corona virus and the corona news from Germany. We also offer you the current number of cases in Germany * on a map. The following recommendations for corona protective measures * are currently available.
  

Wuppertal / Hanover / Harvard / Basel / Leuven - The sudden, severe course of Covid-19 disease is still surprising research worldwide. It now seems clear that not only the lungs are affected, as was said at the beginning of the pandemic in China .

Recent studies have already suggested that many other organs besides the lungs are affected. But now there is another sign of hope: According to their own statements, an international team of researchers has succeeded in "discovering a building block for understanding diseases and organ damage in Covid 19".

Success in # Corona research: our pathologists Dr. Maximilian Ackermann and Prof. Hans Michael Kvasnicka, together with other scientists, discovered a building block for understanding diseases and organ damage in # Covid_19‍Gratulation! https://t.co/RjuAhhnfbi pic.twitter.com/qe3BaFwhgh

Coronavirus: Compared to the flu, Sars-CoV-2 damages the blood vessel system

"Compared to common flu (influenza), the SARS-CoV-2 virus preferentially damages cells of the blood vessel system and subsequently leads to a significant restriction of the blood flow in the organs" - this is probably the most important finding of the research team of the University Hospital in Wuppertal and the medical university in Hanover, in cooperation with the Harvard Medical School and the Universities of Leuven and Basel.

So far, the exact pattern of damage from the SARS-CoV-2 virus was unknown. But this is exactly where the researchers have now discovered a crucial building block. With the inclusion of new types of examination methods, it is now possible to describe the damage that occurs to the blood vessel systems.

Coronavirus: Damage to the blood vessels of the lungs leads to life-threatening courses

Since the lungs in particular consist of "smallest blood vessels", where "fine damage to the blood flow" can become "life-threatening for humans in a very short time", this also explains severe symptoms in connection with the lungs.

The researchers discovered the following process:

• Pronounced inflammation occurs in connection with the damage to the blood vessels

• This is mediated by immune defense cells - this is comparable to rejection reactions in organ transplants
• This stimulates the formation of new blood vessels
• This in turn activates further inflammation

Furthermore, only a fraction of the sufferers experience severe courses. But for those affected, new hope should now arise, as Hans Michael Kvasnicka, Director of the Institute for Pathology and Molecular Pathology at the Helios University Clinic in Wuppertal, describes: “We consider this success as a step on the way to the goal of better assessing the disease mechanisms in COVID-19 understand in order to be able to treat corona patients in a more targeted manner . ”The entire study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

* Merkur.de is part of the Germany-wide Ippen-Digital editors network.