MONITORING DESK

KARACHI: Young and middle-aged people, who are not necessarily sick with Covid-19, are dying of strokes in the US, a country that has so far witnessed nearly one million positive coronavirus cases with over 50,000 deaths, although the median age for severe strokes is said to be 74.

According to the Washington Post newspaper, doctors sound alarm bells about patients in their 30s and 40s left debilitated or dead. Some even didn’t know they were infected. “Once thought to be pathogen that primarily attacks the lungs, it has turned out to be much more formidable foe—impacting nearly every major organ system in the body,” the newspaper says. It also reveals that “many researchers suspect strokes in Covid-19 may be a direct consequence of blood problems that are producing clots all over some people’s bodies”.

Robert Stevens, a critical care doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, has reportedly called strokes “one of the most dramatic manifestations” of the blood-clotting issues. “We’ve also taken care of patients in their 30s with stroke and covid, and this was extremely surprising, “ he was quoted by the Washington Post as saying.