A week after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, a 37-year-old woman in Norway went to the emergency department with fever and persistent headaches. A CAT scan of her head showed a blood clot in blood vessels involved in draining the brain, but her levels of platelets, involved in clotting, were low. She was treated with platelet infusions and a blood thinner, but had a bleed in her brain the next day. She underwent surgery to relieve the pressure on her brain but died two days later.
This is the side effect, known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, that has caused a week of worries around the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca. On Tuesday, the U.S. government said that it had seen the same effect six times among the 6.8 million people given a dose of a similar vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, and that it recommended a pause on use of that vaccine out of an abundance of caution, while researchers investigated.
There was no evidence found that patients infected with the UK variant had more severe disease
Studies published in Lancet Infectious Diseases and Lancet Public Health have found that the UK variant of COVID-19 spreads more quickly but there is no evidence to conclusively say that symptoms were worse than original coronavirus strain.
The studies found that the viral load and R-number for B.1.1.7 (UK variant of coronavirus). This indicates that it has high transmissibility.
Out of the two studies, the one published in Lancet Infectious Diseases is a whole genome sequencing and cohort study. This study involved coronavirus patients admitted to University College London Hospital and North Middlesex University Hospital between November 9 and December 20, 2020.
Studies provide insights into characteristics and clinical effect of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant
Two new studies, published in
The Lancet Infectious Diseases and
The Lancet Public Health, found no evidence that people with the B.1.1.7. variant experience worse symptoms or a heightened risk of developing long COVID compared with those infected with a different COVID-19 strain. However, viral load and R number were higher for B.1.1.7., adding to growing evidence that it is more transmissible than the first strain detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
The emergence of variants has raised concerns that they could spread more easily and be more deadly, and that vaccines developed based on the original strain might be less effective against them. Preliminary data on B.1.1.7. indicates that it is more transmissible, with some evidence suggesting it could also be associated with increased hospitalisations and deaths. However, because the variant was identified only recently, these
Professor Marie Scully, a haematologist at University College London, stumbled on the link when testing for unusual antibodies
A British scientist has revealed how her instinct helped to uncover the link between AstraZeneca s coronavirus vaccine and a very rare blood clot.
Haematologist Professor Marie Scully unknowingly stumbled upon the complication in early March, when a woman in her 30s was admitted to hospital with a brain blockage.
Despite numerous tests, University College London Hospital medics could not work out what caused her to suffer the condition, which sparked a severe headache, light intolerance and vomiting.
Further tests showed she had clots in her stomach, liver and lungs. Baffled doctors also spotted she had low levels of platelets – which clump together to form clots.
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How U.K. Doc Linked Clots to AstraZeneca Vaccine
As the CDC and FDA on Tuesday recommended a pause in use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine,
The Guardian reported how a British doctor identified the link between the rare clotting issue and the similar AstraZeneca vaccine.
Marie Scully, MD, a consultant hematologist at University College London Hospital, told
The Guardian that she had seen patients with blood clots in the brain and low platelets before, but there was no reason to see the condition in a young woman in her 30s whom she treated in early March.