SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 200 million people around the world. For some, the symptoms of infection, including shortness of breath, muscle weakness, and fatigue, persist for months. This syndrome, called post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) and known commonly as Long COVID, affects over a third of COVID-19 patients.
Resia Pretorius, a biologist at Stellenbosch University, Douglas Kell, a systems biologist at the University of Liverpool, and their colleagues found that inflammatory molecules remain trapped in small blood clots in people with Long COVID, which suggests that continued anti-clotting therapy may benefit these patients.
Pretorius and Kell worked on inflammatory diseases and clotting for about a decade before SARS-CoV-2 arrived. When the pandemic hit, they turned their resources to solving COVID-19-related problems and their aim soon became to solve an apparent paradox: COVID-19 complications can involve both excessive bleeding and excessive clotting.
In previous research, Pretorius, Kell, and their colleagues ...
