❦ While all viruses find ways to evade the body’s defenses, a growing field of research suggests that the coronavirus unhinges the immune system more profoundly than previously realized.

Some Covid survivors have developed serious autoimmune diseases, which occur when an overactive immune system attacks the patient, rather than the virus.

Doctors in Italy first noticed a pattern in March 2020, when several Covid patients developed Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the immune systems attacks nerves throughout the body, causing muscle weakness or paralysis.

As the pandemic has surged around the world, doctors have diagnosed patients with rare, immune-related bleeding disorders.

Other patients have developed the opposite problem, suffering blood clots that can lead to stroke.

All these conditions can be triggered by autoantibodies – rogue antibodies that target the patient’s own proteins and cells.

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📖 (4 Mar 2021 ~ KFF Health News) Coronavirus Deranges the Immune System in Complex and Deadly Ways ➤

© 2021 Liz Szabo / KFF Health News.