Quote:
Originally Posted by EdFNJ
Here we go again, thread #27562 "only a couple died." ....... you can LIVE and feel like you are going to die as well for a LONG time after getting this:
COVID-19 (coronavirus): Long-term effects - Mayo Clinic
Most people who have coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) recover completely within a few weeks. But some people — even those who had mild versions of the disease — continue to experience symptoms after their initial recovery.
Older people and people with many serious medical conditions are the most likely to experience lingering COVID-19 symptoms. The most common signs and symptoms that linger over time include:
Fatigue
Cough
Shortness of breath
Headache
Joint pain
Although COVID-19 is seen as a disease that primarily affects the lungs, it can damage many other organs as well. This organ damage may increase the risk of long-term health problems
Organs that may be affected by COVID-19 include:
Heart. Imaging tests taken months after recovery from COVID-19 have shown lasting damage to the heart muscle, even in people who experienced only mild COVID-19 symptoms. This may increase the risk of heart failure or other heart complications in the future.
Lungs. The type of pneumonia often associated with COVID-19 can cause long-standing damage to the tiny air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs. The resulting scar tissue can lead to long-term breathing problems.
Brain. Even in young people, COVID-19 can cause strokes, seizures and Guillain-Barre syndrome — a condition that causes temporary paralysis. COVID-19 may also increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.
Blood clots and blood vessel problems
COVID-19 can 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 by COVID-19 is believed to stem from very small clots that block tiny blood vessels (capillaries) in the heart muscle.
Other organs affected by blood clots include the lungs, legs, liver and kidneys. COVID-19 can also weaken blood vessels, which contributes to potentially long-lasting problems with the liver and kidneys.
Problems with mood and fatigue
People who have severe symptoms of COVID-19 often have to be treated in a hospital's intensive care unit, with mechanical assistance such as ventilators to breathe. Simply surviving this experience can make a person more likely to later develop post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression and anxiety.
Because it's difficult to predict long-term outcomes from the new COVID-19 virus, scientists are looking at the long-term effects seen in related viruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Many people who have recovered from SARS have gone on to develop chronic fatigue syndrome, a complex disorder characterized by extreme fatigue that worsens with physical or mental activity, but doesn't improve with rest. The same may be true for people who have had COVID-19.
Many long-term COVID-19 effects still unknown
Much is still unknown about how COVID-19 will affect people over time. However, researchers recommend that doctors closely monitor people who have had COVID-19 to see how their organs are functioning after recovery.
It's important to remember that most people who have COVID-19 recover quickly. But the potentially long-lasting problems from COVID-19 make it even more important to reduce the spread of the disease by following precautions such as wearing masks, avoiding crowds and keeping hands clean. |
This is a reasonable review of some post-viral sequellae, but be very careful how you interpret it.
1) None of the "long term" effects are UNIQUE to COVID 19, they occur with just about any virus. There is no good data to show they occur more frequently with COVID.
2) Note the "byline" on the original article---"Mayo Clinic Staff". This is not a research article or study, it is just a list some people at Mayo scraped together. Studies are scrutinized by fellow researchers who try to reproduce the results. This is equivalent to an editorial in a newspaper---no fact checking.
3) Cardiac effects---- Unless you have "cardiac imaging" from hundreds of people just before and after COVID infection, the statement has no scientific validity. It is likely true, since many viruses can causes a long term myocarditis, but the sine qua non is endomyocardial biopsy, which I doubt anyone would volunteer for.
4) Pulmonary effects---Any respiratory virus, and even bacterial pneumonitis can result in lung scarring and reduced FEV1 and TLC long term
5) Neurological effects---Any virus and most viral vaccines have a low incidence of Guillian-Barre syndrome (which is easier to write than acute idiopathic demyelinating polyradiculopathy). Alzheimer's and Parkinson's take years to develop and diagnose, so how they can make this statement about a virus that has been around for less than a year is questionable
6) Blood clots---again, just about any infection can lead to a coagulopathy
But where the authors really go astray is with their statement of SARS leading to "chronic fatigue syndrome" There is no consensus in the medical community that CFS even exists, it is NOT a disease, it is a collection of somatic symptoms that usually occurs in patients with severe psychiatric overlay. I would give it no credence.
So there, I just gave a superficial critical overview of the article on Mayo's website. The real unknown here is how often these sequellae occur vs. other viruses, such as Influenza A