COVID-19 Mortality Predicted by This Enzyme? New Study Claims Most Deaths Have It on Their Blood Samples

COVID-19 mortality is currently increasing as new variants appear in various parts of the globe. These include Delta and Lambda, which are believed to be more infectious and could also infect younger people.

Because of this, some medical experts are making considerable efforts to identify coronavirus patients that are identified. If they can efficiently do this, they could prioritize these individuals not to end up succumbing to the virus.

Now, a new COVID-19 study claims that an enzyme related to neurotoxins found in the venom secreted by rattlesnake could be used to identify patients who are about to die.

Involved experts said that because of the rising novel coronavirus pandemic, there is currently a need to identify molecular or cellular mechanisms for serious infections, which could lead to unwanted deaths.

"We initially performed untargeted/targeted lipidomics and focused biochemistry on 127 plasma samples and found elevated metabolites associated with secreted phospholipase A2," explained the University of Arizona's researchers.

COVID-19 Deaths Could be Predicted?

The new COVID-19 study titled "Group IIA secreted phospholipase A2 is associated with the pathobiology leading to COVID-19 mortality" was published by the Clinical Investigation Journal last Aug. 24.

According to CVBJ.biz's latest report, this latest research was made possible by various medical experts from the University of Arizona. They also collaborated with different school institutions, such as Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Stony Brook University.

During their study, two groups of COVID-19 patients were also involved. After observing their blood samples, researchers discovered that the said enzyme, SPLA2-IIA, was mostly found in their blood.

In other news, medical experts say that Hantavirus-infected rodents were identified in San Diego County. On the other hand, university students are now being recruited due to medical staff shortages.

SPLA2-IIA Enzyme Could Also Destroy Bacteria

Aside from being used as a COVID-19 mortality identifier, the SPLA2-IIA enzyme is also said to have the capability to destroy bacterial infections.

However, researchers involved in the study did not confirm if it could also destroy the novel coronavirus. As of the moment, it is still ongoing.

For more news updates about COVID-19 and other related health topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

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Written by: Griffin Davis