Scientists are still trying to understand why children seem to be less susceptible to COVID-19's most severe complications, but "research suggests that the answer might lie in children's healthy blood vessels," writes David Cyranoski at Nature.
Adults who become very ill from the virus often experience blood clotting, which can bring on life-threatening heart attacks and strokes. This might be because the virus causes inflammation in the blood vessels' lining, called the "endothelium," which is supposed to prevent clotting. In children, the endothelium "is set up perfectly and then just deteriorates with age," says Paul Monagle, a pediatric hematologist at the Melbourne Children's Campus.
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