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According to recent studies, the coronavirus is a major cause of strokes. Conversely, severe courses of infection in stroke patients are twice as frequent as in vascularly healthy people, the Medical University of Innsbruck announced.
An infection with the corona virus can cause neurological symptoms in addition to fever, cough and breathing difficulties. All bacteria and viruses could also trigger strokes, explained Innsbruck-based epidemiologist and stroke expert Stefan Kiechl. “We now know that the new SARS virus has a higher potency to trigger strokes than the flu virus, although the absolute numbers are low,” he said.
Data from New York would show that 1.6 percent of all COVID-19 patients treated in hospital suffered a stroke. How the stroke situation developed in detail in the past months country widely, so Kiechl, is examined in a study already requested.
In addition, stroke patients are generally at increased risk of a severe course of infection with Covid-19, warned Kiechl: “There is good data from China and the USA: atherosclerosis and stroke patients suffering from COVID-19 are about twice as likely to have a severe course as vascular healthy people,” the expert explained.
On the one hand, the virus leads to inflammation in the blood, activates it and damages the inner skin of the blood vessels. On the other hand, it also activates blood platelets and coagulation systems. This leads to the formation of blood clots, said Kiechl.
Do not discontinue medication yourself
There are no indications that people with stroke symptoms have been seeing a doctor less often since the outbreak of the pandemic, the expert denied. He warns against discontinuing blood pressure and blood fat lowering drugs. These were suspected to have an unfavorable effect on the course of COVID-19. First studies would not confirm this however, gave the physician all-clear.
Drugs such as aspirin and Cholestero lowering drugs are attributed even a favorable effect for the infection process, so Stefan Kiechl. For stroke patients it is therefore important to continue to take all their usual medications, even in the case of a corona infection.
— hp, source: orf.at. Picture: hp
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