In the global fight against this coronavirus, researchers are looking at how existing medications used to reduce risk of heart disease, including statins and blood thinners, can help to treat COVID-19.
New research retrospectively studying nearly 14,000 COVID-19 hospital patients found the use of statins was associated with reduced risk of death, although not all experts are convinced statins will have much impact in a severe case of COVID-19.
But why are we looking at medications more commonly associated with heart disease to help treat a respiratory virus?
In short, because COVID-19 doesn’t seem to be just another respiratory infection.
“When it first came on the scene, clinically it was affecting the lungs,” says Mathew Vadas, executive director of the Centenary Institute, who works on understanding blood vessels.
“We all assumed [coronavirus] was like any other lung virus, and lung viruses have basically a habit of sticking to the lung and causing massive diseases there.”
But soon after COVID-19 emerged from Wuhan late last year, things started to occur that were not quite kosher as far as a pure respiratory virus like the flu or SARS was concerned, Professor Vadas says.
Healthcare workers around the world observed people presenting with chilblains and red fingers and toes, while those working in pathology labs started to see what looked like the virus invading blood vessels both in the lungs, and in other parts of the body.
“We do see