Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 1) — The Department of Health is looking into reports that the coronavirus disease may be causing stroke among patients, as observed in other countries.
Health Spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire in an online briefing said the department, along with experts from the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, is conducting the study.
“Pinag-aaralan po… kung itong stroke or blood clotting maging ang nababalitang ring rashes ay maaring sintomas ng COVID,” Vergeire said, without going into details.
[Translation: We are studying if stroke or blood clotting and even the reported ring rashes may be symptoms of COVID.]
She noted that COVID-19 is an “evolving disease,” and that the department will release new recommendations and guidelines whenever necessary.
According to the World Health Organization, stroke or the sudden death of some brain cells due to lack of oxygen, is the second leading cause of death globally, next to heart disease.
CNN earlier reported that doctors in New York observed a seven-fold increase in sudden stroke cases among coronavirus patients under the age of 50. They say blood clotting, which leads to stroke, appears to be a widespread problem among infected patients.
The United States has the most number of COVID-19 cases with over a million of the 3.2 million infections worldwide.
In the Netherlands, a study of 184 patients in the intensive care unit for COVID-19-related pneumonia found that more than 20 percent were having clotting issues, CNN reported, while another study in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus outbreak began in December 2019, found 25 percent of cases having clotting problems.
There has been no such reports in the Philippines, although one case in Baguio City, a 77-year-old man, is a stroke patient.
Nationwide, the number of COVID-19 cases rose to 8,772 on Friday, with 579 deaths and 1,084 recoveries. Majority of the patients have mild symptoms, the DOH has said.
