University of Arizona researchers find link between COVID deaths and snake venom

"We found evidence that there was an enzyme, a snake-like enzyme, in the blood of people who were in extraordinarily high levels,” says Dr. Floyd Chilton, the senior author of the study with the University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Scientists have worked on this study for the past year and a half. It was recently published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The snake-like enzyme is found in healthy people at low levels to prevent bacterial infections. In severe cases of COVID-19, it’s doing the opposite.

"These high levels of this enzyme are looking at those tissues in the organs and saying, ‘you look like a bacteria, let's shred your membranes. Let's put these organs out of their misery,’" says Dr. Chilton.

https://www.abc15.com/news/coronavirus/university-of-arizona-researchers-find-link-between-covid-deaths-and-snake-venom