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What is COVID-19?
Learn more about COVID-19, also known as Coronavirus 2019.
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How does COVID-19 affect your body?
Learn more about COVID-19, and how the virus can affect your body.
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How does COVID-19 affect your lungs?
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How does COVID-19 affect your heart?
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How does COVID-19 affect your blood?
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NHLBI's Research Strategy
Director's Blog
November 17, 2020
Can Autoimmune Antibodies Explain Blood Clots in COVID-19?
NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins
Can Autoimmune Antibodies Explain Blood Clots in COVID-19?
NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins
For people with severe COVID-19, one of the most troubling complications is abnormal blood clotting that puts them at risk of having a debilitating stroke or heart attack. A new study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute suggests that SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, doesn’t act alone in causing blood clots. The virus seems to unleash mysterious antibodies that mistakenly attack the body’s own cells to cause clots.
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