Blood cell size and hardness may change in COVID-19 patients

Scientists from the Max Planck Center for Physics and Medicine and the German Center for Immunotherapy studied 55 blood samples

17 patients with infection of varying severity, 14 recovered fromDuring the study, they studied more than 4 million blood cells from patients and compared them to those of healthy people.

We found significant changes in lymphocyte stiffness, monocyte size, neutrophil size and deformability, and heterogeneity in red blood cell change and size. 

Research text

As a result, it turned out that patients withwith coronavirus or those who had already been ill, the lymphocytes were much softer than those of healthy participants in the experiment. Therefore, they, in particular, deformed more easily. Other blood cells - monocytes - in the first group increased in volume.

These changes, the authors note, can impede blood circulation and contribute to hypoxemia - a low oxygen content in the blood.

The authors suggest that such changes can detect coronavirus infection, for example, in a latent form. 

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