Doctors from different backgrounds who have treated patients with COVID-19 in the past eight months have confirmed that COVID-19 is not just a pulmonary disease, but a systemic disease affecting all organs. Whether it is a patient having mild infection or a patient requiring intensive care in a life-death situation on a ventilator, COVID-19 changes the whole body immune system of a person once he/she has contracted the virus. Damage to heart and lungs was predominant in many patients. These changes are more evident after patients recover from COVID-19. Although doctors ‘reports of various forms of organ damage in patients with COVID-19 are the, clinicians and researchers have yet to decide if the new coronavirus targets these organs specifically or if the patients’ immune responses to the infection are causing the injuries. Doctors said researchers should also examine whether the harm and loss of the organ is caused by medication, respiratory distress, fevers, hospitalization stress, and so-called “cytokine storms.” Regardless of the cause, the harm of the organ is endangering the lives of patients.
Here are some of the observation done by doctors from all over the world that explain what exactly happens once patients recover from COVID-19:
Blood Clots
The new coronavirus also tends to create blood clots that can pass from the veins of patients to their lungs, contributing to pulmonary embolism and other organs. Doctors said that the blood clots in Covid-19 patients are smaller but cause more harm than blood clots usually seen in patients with other conditions, based on what they have seen so far. The doctors said there were patients who succumbed while exercising, almost 3-4 weeks after their recovery, because of blood clots in the system and even lung scarring. They also said that, also months after recovery in some patients, their blood oxygen saturation decreased after speaking for a few minutes. It was also said that the doctors had no conclusive answers yet as to whether or not the scarring in the lung tissue was reversible.
Re-infection
Doctors said that more such cases have emerged in recent years, given the possibility of recovered individuals catching the virus again. Recurrence is rare when it comes to measles or chickenpox. But we saw people with a mild infection in COVID-19 for the first time get it a second time, almost 2-3 months later, so they may not have formed antibodies. They also found out, however, that as opposed to exposure to crowds, milk packets were much too small to contract infection from newspapers. Given the advent of winter across India, he said that there was no difference in weather or temperature because COVID-19 originated in China during the winter and spread to India during the summer.
Vaccine Safety
Experts also acknowledged that it was just half the fight to get a healthy vaccine and the supply chain scaling-up was the main obstacle. In a practical sense, a safe vaccine might take until the middle of next year(2021), but it would take two to three more years to scale up to 15 billion doses (two shots per head) even if ready. In China and Russia, there’s uncertainty about whether their vaccine is effective if it’s rushed. Even if a safe vaccine is available, only 60-70% safety and not a 100% guarantee can be provided, so we have to learn to cope with the new standard. When asked about the effectiveness of the vaccine against virus mutations, it was said that the efficacy of the vaccine was decreased by mutations, but some coverage could be given by the vaccine. The vaccine provides cross-protection even if a virus mutates, and it has a 50 percent chance of protecting the organism.’ The vaccine has the potential to bring down the Infection risks and seriousness.
Ailments during infection
In addition to the commonly recorded lung injuries associated with COVID-19, physicians around the world say that in patients that often lead to cardiac arrest, the disease can sometimes cause cardiac injuries. The Wall Street Journal notes that physicians are also documenting an elevated number of patients that recover from COVID-19 have signs of neurological injury, including brain inflammation, seizures, and hallucinations. The findings also caused doctors to begin conducting basic neurological tests on patients with COVID-19, the Journal reports. Kidney damage is also becoming a widely reported problem in patients with COVID-19. The results indicate that it is “quite likely that the virus binds to and attacks the kidney cells”
