Michael McDonald
People with a COVID-19 infection may have flu-like symptoms but the virus attacks the lungs in an entirely different way. It is important to understand that and not think, ‘Oh, it’s just another flu.’
According to Hugh Montgomery, Professor of Intensive Care at University College London, COVID-19 is ‘as different from flu as Ebola is from an ingrown toenail’. In a very articulate interview with ABC’s 7.30 on April 5, Professor Montgomery explained that, unlike a pulmonary infection that clogs the air sacs in the lungs, COVID-19 presents as a blood disorder.
Prof Montgomery notes ‘blood essentially is coming into the lung full of carbon dioxide and without much oxygen and it is transiting the lung to the arterial side in exactly the same state that it came in.
‘So a lot of this problem seems to be vascular and indeed when we measure clotting in the blood, it is off-the-scale abnormal.
‘There are things called D-Dimers that break down clots and those would be up a little bit if you had a clot. These are stratospheric levels.’
If that doesn’t make people think twice about taking precautions to protect themselves and avoid giving the virus to others, I don’t know what will.
You can watch the three-minute interview at www.abc.net.au/7.30/intensive-care-specialist-hugh-montgomery/12130856 and also read a transcript.
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