The consequences of the coronavirus can be lifelong. Here's what is known about it

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Problems are observed even in those who have suffered from the disease in a mild and asymptomatic form.

In the spring, at the start of the pandemic, there was a temptation to treat the coronavirus infection as one of the SARS. Let it be more severe, albeit more often and more seriously affecting the lungs, but still a common cold, which you can simply get sick without consequences.

This is largely true. Most people do recover in one to two weeks on average. Coronavirus Diagnosis: What Should I Expect? after the first symptoms of COVID-19 appear. But this recovery is often incomplete.

When people recover completely

The answer may be shocking: it is possible that never. At least there are patients who complain of As Their Numbers Grow, COVID-19 “Long Haulers” Stump Experts that the disease, which began in March, has not receded until now.

There was even a term - Long COVID Long COVID: let patients help define long-lasting COVID symptoms, aka postcoid. They denote the unhealthy condition that haunts people ("truckers The tragedy of the post-COVID" long haulers "" in the same terminology) weeks and even months after the official end of the sick leave.

According to the NHS to offer ‘long covid’ sufferers help at specialist centers of the British National Health Service (NHS), the lingering consequences of the coronavirus are recorded in every tenth patient.

But there may be many more victims of postkovid. Thus, the authors of a small Italian study Persistent Symptoms in Patients After Acute COVID-19 claim: at least one symptom of coronavirus infection, such as shortness of breath or severe weakness, in 87.4% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 persists two months after discharge.

Why this happens, scientists do not yet understand. There are only assumptions As Their Numbers Grow, COVID-19 “Long Haulers” Stump Experts. According to them, COVID-19 causes long-term changes in the body. In some organs, such as the lungs, heart, nervous tissue, these changes can persist for an especially long time - even after patients stop shedding the virus, which could be caught using PCR analysis. Thus, from a diagnostic point of view, a person is healthy. But he is not feeling well.

What are the health consequences of the coronavirus?

Here are the most persistent symptoms and physical changes in the body that are recorded in those who have had COVID-19.

Often the consequences of COVID-19 have a recurrent Long covid: How to define it and how to manage it character: it seems to you that you have finally recovered, but then your health worsens again, and these cycles are repeated over and over again.

Nisreen Alwan is a professor at the University of Southampton with personal experience in the fight against Long COVID

1. Constant severe fatigue, muscle weakness

A recent poll conducted by a support group for those suffering from the effects of coronavirus infection showed COVID-19 “Long Hauler” Symptoms. Survey Report: Fatigue is the most common of the 50 major symptoms that truckers experience.

This sign is so clear that many people find it difficult to go to the nearest store for bread. After such a sortie, a person feels as if he has just conquered Elbrus with a 10-kilogram backpack. In general, the slightest physical exertion is enough to wear off.

2. Sleep problems

Despite the strongest weakness, people with postcoid often complain of insomnia. It can be difficult for them to fall asleep. But even if this succeeds, after 2-3 hours many suddenly wake up and can no longer plunge back into sleep.

3. Deterioration of concentration, memory, ability to think

This common symptom has even received a separate name - "Brain Fog As Their Numbers Grow, COVID-19“Long Haulers”Stump Experts." A person's memory and attention deteriorate, the speed of reactions decreases, there are difficulties with learning, habitual work, even with the performance of everyday tasks.

Perhaps this is due to the fact that the coronavirus affects the nervous system. However, scientists have not yet established a specific mechanism for the development of "brain fog".

Some researchers note that the combination of brain fog, sleep problems, and extreme weakness is similar to the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome. What is ME / CFS? (myalgic encephalomyelitis) is a complex neurological disease, the causes of which have not been fully established. It is believed that myalgic ecephalomyelitis is associated with neurosis of the regulatory centers of the autonomic nervous system.

In simple words: the work of those zones of the nervous system that are responsible for the inhibition of physical and nervous processes, rest is weakened. As a result, the body is in constant stress. Its reserves are quickly depleted and simply do not have time to recover.

But whether the postcovid is really a coronavirus-provoked neurosis (disruption of the autonomic nervous system) is not yet known.

4. Mental disorders

American scientists, who analyzed over 62 thousand cases of COVID-19, established Bidirectional associations between COVID-19 and psychiatric disorder: retrospective cohort studies of 62 354 COVID-19 cases in the USA, a strong link between coronavirus infection and the development of mental illness. They found out the following.

Almost one in five patients with coronavirus, three months after the onset of the disease, also receives a mental disorder, such as anxiety disorder or depression. Some develop dementia.

Interestingly, this connection is two-way. COVID-19 increases the risk of developing mental disorders. But at the same time, a person's mental illness already increases the risk of contracting coronavirus. Such people "catch" this infection 65% more often than other risk groups (elderly, obese, with chronic diseases).

5. Cough and shortness of breath

As Their Numbers Grow, COVID-19 “Long Haulers” Stump Experts can cause persistent coughing and rapid breathing. For example, the so-called post-viral reactive airway disease. This is a fairly common condition that is often observed after an acute respiratory viral infection or flu.

A more dangerous cause is pulmonary fibrosis. These are scars that appear on the lung tissue after severe inflammation.

6. Problems with the heart and blood vessels

Shortness of breath can also be triggered by viral myocarditis. This is the name for cardiac dysfunction arising from infections. The heart muscle begins to work intermittently. This is manifested by tachycardia, arrhythmia, a feeling of heaviness in the chest.

But it is not only the heart that suffers. Research Shows Clots, Strokes And Rashes. Is COVID ‑ 19 A Disease Of The Blood Vessels? that the coronavirus infects the endothelium - the layer of cells lining the inner surface of blood vessels. This leads to inflammation, pain in the blood vessels (especially felt on the hands or feet), the appearance of a red rash-"cobweb", translucent through the skin.

The most serious complication of vascular inflammation is thrombosis. In this case, a blood clot forms in the area of inflammation. Breaking off and moving with the bloodstream, it can block small vessels in the heart or brain, triggering a heart attack or stroke.

7. Kidney damage

The fact that coronavirus often disrupts kidney function in seriously ill patients was said at the start of the pandemic. Thus, renal failure was observed with COVID-19 and Kidney Failure in the Acute Care Setting: Our Experience From Seattle in about every seventh patient with severe COVID-19.

Later it turned out that the kidneys also suffer in those people who carry coronavirus infection with mild symptoms or even asymptomatic. Scientists suggest that this may be due to several reasons Coronavirus: Kidney Damage Caused by COVID-19:

• The coronavirus directly infects kidney cells. Those have receptors that allow infection to attach and damage these tissues. Similar receptors (codenamed ACE2) are found in lung and heart cells.
• Kidney function can be impaired due to a lack of oxygen in the blood caused by a viral attack on the lungs.
• Its own immunity can damage kidney cells by detecting a virus in them.
• Blood clots that form in inflamed vessels also worsen or even block the functioning of the organ.

8. Possible male infertility

There are also quite a few Mechanisms by Which SARS ‑ CoV ‑ 2 May Impact Male Fertility ACE2 receptors in the testes. There is evidence that the coronavirus, infecting testicular cells, dramatically reduces sperm production.

Therefore, Chinese urologists point out The need for urogenital tract monitoring in COVID-19 in the journal Nature: young men who have recovered from COVID-19 who are planning to have children should receive medical advice about their fertility."

Who has the most common complications

If COVID-19 itself is considered the most dangerous for people over 65 years of age and those with chronic diseases, then the risk of postcovid disease is almost not associated with age or health status.

Long-term effects of COVID-19 - World Health Organization, including children and young people without chronic diseases, face the lingering inability to feel healthy.

However, some patterns have been found. So, WHO believes the Long-term effects of COVID-19 - World Health Organization, that health problems after an infection most often occur in people who:

• have high blood pressure;
• complain of obesity;
• show signs of mental health problems such as depression, bipolar and anxiety disorders, and suffer from persistent high levels of stress.

What to do to avoid the consequences of the coronavirus

There is only one sure way - to try not to get infected with COVID-19. This means that even after softening or canceling quarantine measures, it is important to maintain a distance (at least 1.5 meters from others), regularly wash hands and wear a mask in public places.

This material was first published in May 2020. We updated the text in November.

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