This is what Coronavirus makes your lungs
The damage that Covid-19 is on your lungs during and after the infection is very serious. Here, doctors explain.
TheCoronavirus attacks almost every part From the human body, your eyes on your toes and your kidneys to your brain. But given its respiratory disease, the largest target of Covid-19 is clear: your lungs. Of course, you have heard that coronavirus can causeshortness of breath and even pneumonia. But you may not have understood that the coronavirus spills on your lungs can actually last a life.
When the new coronavirus enters your body - mainly through the nose or mouth, it travels into your airways, infecting the cells of your body along the way before reaching your lungs. Then, according toSciencemagazine,your lungs swell As the white blood cells of your immune system release inflammatory molecules called chemokines. These chemokines help fight against infected cells, but in turn, disrupt the transfer of healthy oxygen. And depending on the severity of the swelling, this process can result in an accumulation of fluid and dead cells, causing significant damage to your lungs, which does not disappear while after reading the infection.
In fact, Hong Kong doctors told theSouth China morning position that some survivors of coronaviruses have a "20 to 30% drop in lung function"Even after recovery.
So what exactly is happening? "Researchers have discovered that long-term healing of the lungs, called fibrosis, can be a problem, which could cause variable levels oflong-term respiratory deficiencies, "Ari Bernstein, MD, advisor forFruit health andCOVIDMD, previously saidBetter life.
In severe cases of COVID-19, this long-term healing may be the result of a complication known as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), writesPanagis Galiatsatos, MD, MHS, aExpert on pulmonary disease At the Medical Center of Johns Hopkins Bayview.
A form of pulmonary insufficiency, the ARDs cause that your air bags become filled with fluids fleeing surrounding blood vessels in the lungs, preventing you from being breathed. Galiatsatos, which deals with Patients with COVID-19, notes that ARDS - which are often the result of coronavirus-induced pneumonia - can be fatal, and when it is not the case, patients often have scars Sustainable pulmonary.
The good news is that this healing is not necessarily irreversible, says Galiatsatos. "The recovery of pulmonary damage takes time," he notes. "There is the initial injury to the lungs, followed by scars. Over time, the fabric heals, but it can take three months to one year or more for a person's lung function to return to pre-covid levels 19. "
Much remains to be learned about the sustainable impact that coronavirus can have on survivors, but with respect to lungs, Galiatsatos states that patients should expect further treatment. "Once the pandemic is over, a group of patients with new health needs: survivors," he writes. "Doctors, respiratory therapists and other health care providers will need to help these patients recover as much pulmonary function as much." And for more information on the development of a Defense against Covid-19, consultThis common disease could increase your coronavirus immunity.