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

The symptoms of coronavirus are well known. As well as the timing of recovery: most of the sick return to normal in about 2-3 weeks. But they talk much less about what happens to the body after recovery. Meanwhile, COVID-19 can have some very serious long-term consequences.

When people make a full recovery

The answer may be shocking: it is possible that never.

COVID-19 is a new disease that humanity faced just a few months ago. Therefore, there is simply no research that can accurately track the long-term effects. But there are statistics that are gradually being accumulated by medical organizations in different countries.

The blow to health largely depends on how the disease proceeded. Those who suffer the most are those who need hospitalization. Thus, the UK National Health Service suggestsCOVID-19 Hospital Discharge Service Requirementsthat 45% of them, even after being discharged from the hospital, will need constant medical care for at least some time: taking medications and monitoring a doctor. 4% will have to undergo rehabilitation in a hospital setting, and 1% will remain in intensive care forever.

But even a mild course of COVID-19 does not guarantee that a person will recover quickly and completely. Business Insider leadsFor a growing number of COVID-19 patients, symptoms last more than a month. Four young patients who’ve been sick 30-plus days say they’re ‘terrified.’ stories of young people who easily fell ill with coronavirus were treated at home and even continued to work remotely.

For some of them, the symptoms - weakness, dizziness, drowsiness, constant unwell - did not go away for one or two months.

Information from the Pentagon looks even more alarming. The US Department of Defense calculatedCoronavirus survivors banned from joining the military the long-term consequences of the coronavirus are so serious that it announced: those who have been ill, even in a mild or asymptomatic form, will forever be considered unfit for military service. After the outbreak of the scandal, the requirements were softenedUpdated guidance allows unhospitalized COVID-19 survivors to join the military. The army leadership agreed to consider candidates for the sick, but only if they were not hospitalized. And still it left a loophole for itself, without giving a specific definition of "hospitalization". It may be enough to refuse if the person called an ambulance or went to the emergency room.

The fears of the military are understandable. According to some reports, the new coronavirus significantly undermines health and can indeed incapacitate a person for a long time.

What are the health consequences of coronavirus?

These complications appear in some COVID-19 patients and require more thorough research.

Mental disorders

This mainly concerns people who were treated in intensive care units and, for example, connected to apparatus artificial ventilation of the lungs. Resuscitation saves lives, but at the same time has negative consequences. There is even a term for them - PIT syndromePost Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) (PIT is an abbreviation for After Intensive Care).

One of the most common manifestations of the PIT syndrome is mental disorders. A person becomes anxious, suspicious, desperately afraid for health and life. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common. Such conditions require treatment by a psychotherapist or psychiatrist.

Neurological disorders

This is another common consequence of PIT syndrome. Intensive care can disrupt brain function: worsen memory, attention, the speed of reactions decreases, difficulties arise with learning, habitual work, even with the implementation of everyday tasks.

However, in order to face neurological failures, it is not necessary to go to intensive care. There is evidence that COVID-19 affects the nervous system in a less severe course of the disease. For example, one Chinese study foundNeurologic Manifestations of Hospitalized Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, Chinathat more than a third of 214 patients hospitalized with coronavirus infection had neurological symptoms: headache, dizziness, impaired consciousness and vision, loss of smell.

How long these disorders persist after hospital discharge is not yet clear.

Muscle weakness

This is another problem in the PIT syndrome. Physical recovery after discharge from the hospital takes less time than mental recovery. But even that may take a year or two.

Lung problems

One of the characteristic featuresCT imaging and clinical course of asymptomatic cases with COVID-19 pneumonia at admission in Wuhan, China COVID-19 - single lumps of lung tissue that look like blotches of "frosted glass" on CT. These affected areas do not always heal. In their place, scars can form (then they talk about lung fibrosis) - that is, areas that a person can no longer breathe.

Curiously, the lung damage caused by COVID-19 is not necessarily related to how badly the person was ill. Chinese scientists have studiedCT imaging and clinical course of asymptomatic cases with COVID-19 pneumonia at admission in Wuhan, China lungs 58 asymptomatic patients. About 95% of them had areas of "frosted glass".

But whether the "frosted glass" always heals and reduces the respiratory volume of the lungs, the researchers do not yet know. Perhaps those who have had coronavirus will suffer until the end of their lives shortness of breath for any physical activity, up to climbing stairs. The injured organs simply cannot provide the body with the required amount of oxygen.

Increased thrombus formation

Some COVID-19 patients start bleedingThromboembolic Findings in COVID-19 Autopsies: Pulmonary Thrombosis or Embolism? roll up faster, which means blood clots getting bigger. It is assumed that this is how the inflammatory response to infection manifests itself.

Blood clots can clog the blood vessels that feed the lungs, brain, heart, and other organs and tissues. This increases the risk of pulmonary embolism, stroke, heart attack, deep vein thrombosis. All this is deadly.

Complications caused by blood clots can affect anyone. And change life in a completely unpredictable way.

For example, the famous Broadway and television actor Nick Cordero had to be amputated due to the thrombosis caused by the coronavirus infection.Broadway actor Nick Cordero has leg amputated after serious COVID-19 complications leg.

Accelerated blood clotting, according to some reportsIncidence of thrombotic complications in critically ill ICU patients with COVID-19, is recorded in every third patient hospitalized with COVID-19. How long it lasts after discharge is not yet clear. But experts are already suggestingCOVID-19 and Thrombotic or Thromboembolic Disease: Implications for Prevention, Antithrombotic Therapy, and Follow-up prescribe anticoagulants to such patients even after the main treatment.

Renal failure

This is also one of the consequences of increased blood clots. Blood clots that impede circulation can significantly impair kidney function.

According to known data, renal failure was observedCOVID-19 and Kidney Failure in the Acute Care Setting: Our Experience From Seattle in about one in seven patients with severe COVID-19. In some cases, the kidneys could not be restored.

Heart complications

Lung problems arising from COVID-19 (as, indeed, with any other pneumonia), give an additional load on the heart: it has to pump blood more actively in order to provide organs and tissues with oxygen. But this does not end there.

The heart has quite a few ACE2 receptorsCOVID-19 and the cardiovascular system, thanks to which SARS-CoV-2 enters the body, which means it is also under threat. Doctors suggestPotential Effects of Coronaviruses on the Cardiovascular Systemthat the new coronavirus can lead to inflammation of the myocardium and blood vessels, rhythm disturbances and heart failure.

How long this damage can last is not yet known.

Male infertility

The testicles are also quite a lotDoes COVID-19 affect male fertility? ACE2 receptors. Therefore, in theory, the coronavirus can damage the testicles and lead to infertility.

In an article publishedThe need for urogenital tract monitoring in COVID-19 in the journal Nature, Chinese urologists recommend: “After recovering from COVID-19 for young men, who are planning to have children, you need to get medical advice about their fertility ".

Who is most at risk

People from risk groups are most often and most affected by the new coronavirus. These includeWhat We Know About the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19:

• those over 65;
• living in nursing homes, hospices, sanatoriums and rehabilitation centers;
• people with chronic diseases of the lungs, heart, kidneys, liver;
• those whose immune systems are weakened or malfunctioning (for example, HIV-infected);
• people with morbid obesity or diabetes.

But if you are not included in the risk group, this does not mean that the disease will spare you. Actor Nick Cordero is only 41 years old, he does not suffer from excess weight and monitors his health. Nevertheless, this did not save his leg.

The surest way to avoid COVID-19-related complications is to do whatever it takes to avoid getting infected. 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 your hands and wear a mask in public places.