Coronavirus
Threat of long-term damage looms after patients recover from coronavirus, experts say
People who have recovered from COVID-19 may not be out of the woods — the illness could leave them with long-term damage to vital organs, experts say.
The respiratory illness is caused by the novel coronavirus, which is thought to spread person-to-person through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms include fever, shortness of breath and dry cough.
In severe cases, the body’s ability to get oxygen in and out of the blood stream is affected, meaning a person’s muscles may become impaired, causing fatigue when “trying to inhale and exhale against lungs that aren’t working too well,” Dr. Neal Patel of the Mayo Clinic said.
These patients may need help breathing from a ventilator.
“It allows them to get the oxygen they need so the body can work to calm this down and hopefully get rid of the virus,” Patel said.
As of April 12, there have been 1,807,939 confirmed cases worldwide with 113,301 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, and 416,620 people have recovered.
But those who’ve recovered from serious illness may face long-term damage.
Lungs
Long-term damage may be caused when a coronavirus patient develops acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
ARDS occurs when lungs are severely damaged by trauma or infection, causing fluid to leak into the lungs, making it difficult for oxygen to enter the bloodstream, according to the American Lung Association.
Researchers in China conducted a study of 191 coronavirus patients and found that 50 of 54 patients who died had developed ARDS, the Cleveland Clinic reported. Of 137 survivors, only nine developed ARDS.
Another study, published by the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information, found that 17% of 99 patients in Wuhan developed ARDS during their illness. A third study, published in The Lancet, found that 29% of 41 studied patients in Wuhan developed the syndrome.
Those who recover from ARDS typically experience gradual improvement in lung function in six months to a year, but they can be left with significant scarring in the lungs and lower-than-average lung volumes, the American Thoracic Society reported.
Other-long term symptoms can include cognitive impairment, psychological morbidities, neuromuscular weakness and pulmonary dysfunction, according to a study published by the Center for Biotechnology Information.
Kidneys
In severe cases of COVID-19, sepsis can occur causing damage to kidneys and other organs, Al Jazeera reported.
Sepsis occurs when the body’s response to chemicals released to fight infection is out of balance, according to the Mayo Clinic. This triggers changes that can damage organs.
When sepsis occurs, a person’s blood vessels could dilate, causing blood pressure to fall, Al Jazeera reported. The sudden drop “stops the kidneys from receiving the flow of blood at the right pressure they need to do their complex set of jobs,” according to the outlet.
This can cause cells to die off quickly, leading to permanent kidney damage.
COVID-19 survivors “will need to have their kidney function monitored carefully through blood and urine tests to check for permanent damage,” Al Jazeera reported.
Heart
Cardiologists say COVID-19 may also be causing heart damage, according to Kaiser Health News.
An initial study found that as many as 1 in 5 coronavirus patients who show no respiratory distress suffer cardiac damage, leading to heart failure and even death, Kaiser Health reported.
Initial research suggests that coronavirus can directly infect the heart muscle, attaching to receptors in the lungs that are also found in the heart, according to the outlet.
Another study by researchers at the University of Texas found that COVID-19 can cause cardiac injury in patients with no underlying health problems, McClatchy News reported.
“It is likely that even in the absence of previous heart disease, the heart muscle can be affected by coronavirus disease,” Mohammad Madjid, the study’s lead author, said in a release about the study. “Overall, injury to heart muscle can happen in any patient with or without heart disease, but the risk is higher in those who already have heart disease.”
Experts say they don’t know why some patients face cardiac injury while others don’t, but hypothesize it could be due to a genetic predisposition or exposure to higher viral loads, Kaiser News reported.
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