Long-term Effects Covid-19 Have On Brain, Heart And Lungs

Most people infected with COVID-19 have mild or no symptoms and recover within two weeks. Some of the short-term impacts for people with mild symptoms include shortness of breath in the lungs and airways, fever, cough, and body aches. But there are those who report brain fog, palpitations, constant tiredness, mood swings. For them it can take up to 14 to 15 weeks to recover.

Paul Garner, a professor of epidemiology at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK, wrote on the 95th day after the onset of symptoms that “I am unable to be out of bed for more than three hours at a stretch, my arms and legs are permanently fizzing as if injected with Szechuan peppercorns, I have ringing in the ears, intermittent brain fog, palpitations, and dramatic mood swings.”

Many others had similar complaints. According to The Medical Journal, 78 of 100 recovered COVID-19 patients study had abnormal findings on cardiovascular MRI and 36 of those reported dyspnoea and unusual fatigue.

Neurological symptoms (Brain)

Neurological symptoms are extremely common among COVID-19 patients who were sick enough to be hospitalized. The symptoms range from mild to severe, and can include headaches, dizziness and altered brain function, according to the study in the journal ‘Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology’.

The findings highlight the wide-ranging effects the virus can have on the body. What’s more, the study found that patients may continue to experience these symptoms long after they recover from the disease.

In the study, researchers at Northwestern Medicine looked back at the first 509 patients hospitalized within their network of 10 hospitals and medical centers in Chicago in March and April. Just over a quarter had been put on ventilators.

A majority of 82% of patients developed problems stemming from the nervous system. “That means 4 out of 5 hospitalized patients in hospital system at the beginning of the pandemic had those neurologic problems,” said Dr. Igor Koralnik, a co-author of the study and chief of neuro-infectious diseases and global neurology at Northwestern Medicine.

Muscle pain was reported by nearly 44.8% of patients, and 37.7% complained of headaches.

Just under a third of patients developed a more serious type of neurological problem: encephalopathy, or altered brain function.

Problems ranged from mild symptoms, such as difficulty with attention, short-term memory, concentration and multitasking abilities, “all the way to confusion, stupor and coma,” Koralnik said. More severe brain function issues were more likely to occur in older patients over 65.

Others reported feeling dizzy, or lost their sense of taste or smell.

Heart

One effect of COVID-19 now known to clinicians is the disease’s ability to make blood cells more likely to clump up and form clots. While large clots can cause heart attacks and strokes, much of the heart damage caused is believed to stem from very small clots that block tiny blood vessels (capillaries) in the heart muscle. Blood clots are also known to damage the lungs, legs, liver and kidneys. Coronavirus can also weaken blood vessels — against contributing to potentially long-lasting problems with the liver and kidneys.

Furthermore, The latest research suggests that this novel COVId-19 does widespread damage to blood vessels far beyond the lungs — and is thus far more dangerous than previously thought.

A recent study published in JAMA Cardiology, which looked at 100 patients who had recently recovered from covid-19. The researchers found some form of heart abnormality in 78 of these cases and detected an inflammation of the heart muscle in 60, despite the lack of a relevant preexisting condition.

Myocarditis, another heat complication is inflammation of the heart muscle (myocardium). Myocarditis can affect your heart muscle and your heart’s electrical system, reducing your heart’s ability to pump and causing rapid or abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias).

Heart conditions associated with coronavirus infection include inflammation and damage to the heart muscle itself (also known as myocarditis) or inflammation of the covering of the heart (called pericarditis). “These conditions can occur by themselves or in combination.”

Lungs

Like other respiratory illnesses, COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, can cause lasting lung damage. As we continue to learn about COVID-19, we understand more regarding how it affects the lungs while people are sick and after recovery.

William Li, recently co-authored a study in the New England Journal of Medicine comparing the lungs of covid-19 patients to those of patients killed by influenza, and to healthy lungs. The coronavirus was found to infect and inflict serious damage to the vascular endothelium — the single layer of cells that line the blood vessels of the lungs.

According to a journal published in Hopkins Medicine there are three Factors that affects Lung Damage risk in coronavirus patients

Disease severity- The first is the severity of the coronavirus infection itself — whether the person has a mild case, or a severe one. Milder cases are less likely to cause lasting scars in the lung tissue.

Health conditions- The second is whether there are existing health problems, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or heart disease that can raise the risk for severe disease. Older people are also more vulnerable for a severe case of COVID-19. Their lung tissues may be less elastic, and they may have weakened immunity because of advanced age.

Treatment- Treatment is the third factor, a patient’s recovery and long-term lung health is going to depend on what kind of care they get, and how quickly. Timely support in the hospital for severely ill patients can minimize lung damage.

What type of damage can coronavirus cause in the lungs?

COVID-19 Pneumonia

In pneumonia, the lungs become filled with fluid and inflamed, leading to breathing difficulties. For some people, breathing problems can become severe enough to require treatment at the hospital with oxygen or even a ventilator.

The pneumonia that COVID-19 causes tends to take hold in both lungs. Air sacs in the lungs fill with fluid, limiting their ability to take in oxygen and causing shortness of breath, cough and other symptoms.

While most people recover from pneumonia without any lasting lung damage, the pneumonia associated with COVID-19 may be severe. Even after the disease has passed, lung injury may result in breathing difficulties that might take months to improve.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)

As COVID-19 pneumonia progresses, more of the air sacs become filled with fluid leaking from the tiny blood vessels in the lungs. Eventually, shortness of breath sets in, and can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a form of lung failure. Patients with ARDS are often unable to breath on their own and may require ventilator support to help circulate oxygen in the body.

Whether it occurs at home or at the hospital, ARDS can be fatal. People who survive ARDS and recover from COVID-19 may have lasting pulmonary scarring.

Sepsis

Another possible complication of a severe case of COVID-19 is sepsis. Sepsis occurs when an infection reaches, and spreads through, the bloodstream, causing tissue damage everywhere it goes.

Sepsis, even when survived, can leave a patient with lasting damage to the lungs and other organs.

Superinfection

Experts note that when a person has COVID-19, the immune system is working hard to fight the invader. This can leave the body more vulnerable to infection with another bacterium or virus on top of the COVID-19 — a superinfection. More infection can result in additional lung damage.

 

SOURCE : TIMES KUWAIT

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