Contents
- The coronavirus enters the body through the respiratory tract and attacks the heart
- The coronavirus damages the kidneys
- Coronavirus is also dangerous to the digestive system and the liver
- Loss of smell and taste as a symptom of COVID-19
- Coronavirus and conjunctivitis
- Coronavirus can contribute to the formation of blood clots
- Coronavirus leads to changes in the bone marrow
- The coronavirus attacks the nervous system
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The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus mainly affects the respiratory system of the patient. However, the longer a pandemic lasts, the more we know about the other organs that the virus is damaging. Changes in the heart, kidneys, liver, and nervous system malfunction are also common in COVID-19 patients. How does the coronavirus damage these organs?
- Doctors caring for COVID-19 patients point out that the coronavirus damages not only the lungs but also other organs. Approx. 40 percent of COVID-19 patients develop cardiac arrhythmias
- The coronavirus also affects the kidneys, liver and intestines. In the course of the disease, even every second infected complains of vomiting and diarrhea
- Recent research also shows that inflammation following infection damages the bone marrow. The infection also leads to impairment of the nervous system
Dr. Eric Cioe-Pena, director of global health at Northwell Health in New York, explains that the coronavirus enters the body through the respiratory tract – mouth or nose, and into the lungs. To infect a person, it must bind to an enzyme on the surface of the cell. When the coronavirus is in our body, it can enter the bloodstream and thus attack other organs.
- Check the latest data on the range of the coronavirus in Poland and in the world
Myocarditis has been observed in some patients while treating COVID-19 patients in the emergency room where Cioe-Pena works. Doctors treating patients in China and the United States of COVID-19 patients also reported cardiomyopathy, heart muscle disease, and irregular heart beat that could lead to a heart attack.
Dr. Mithell Elkind, a neuroscientist at Columbia University, told The Washington Post that some patients feel better and then suddenly develop serious heart problems that seem disproportionately larger than those with breathing.
A small study from China showed that about 40 percent. patients with COVID-19 also suffered from cardiac arrhythmias, and about 20 percent. had some form of damage to the heart muscle.
See also:
- Prof. Adam Witkowski: Coronavirus is a much stronger threat for heart patients
- Right ventricular enlargement is associated with a higher risk of death from COVID-19
- Hidden hypoxia dangerous for COVID-19 patients
Doctors caring for people with COVID-19 also point out that the coronavirus can cause kidney damage. Alan Kliger, a nephrologist at the Yale School of Medicine, said nearly half of those hospitalized with COVID-19 have blood or protein in their urine, indicating early kidney damage. He also cited data that show that in 14 to 30 percent. In intensive care patients in New York and Wuhan, China, there were problems with the loss of kidney function. Patients required dialysis.
Scientists in Wuhan who conducted autopsies of patients who died from COVID-19 found that 9 out of 26 cases had acute kidney damage. In seven of the nine cases, coronavirus particles were found in the kidney tissues.
“Nasz Dziennik”, quoted by PAP, reports that kidney damage occurs in up to 10 percent of people. infected with SARS-CoV-2.
See also: Kidney failure – a silent epidemic that is not talked about
SARS-CoV-2 enters cells by attaching to the ACE2 receptor on their surface. In doing so, it infects cells in the airways, but it can also use this connection to infect other organs. Scientists point out that there are up to 100 times more receptors in the gastrointestinal tract that the coronavirus particle can attach to.
Patients with COVID-19 develop symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting. Various studies show that even every second infected experienced these symptoms.
Doctors also observe cases of liver damage in the course of COVID-19 in their patients. In the Washington Post, we can read about the case of a 59-year-old woman who was diagnosed with acute hepatitis by doctors. Soon coughing joined the symptoms, and eventually doctors attributed the liver damage to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
See also: New Coronavirus Symptoms? They are like dengue fever
Loss of smell and taste as a symptom of COVID-19
Loss of smell and taste is one of the unusual symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection. The president of the British Rhinology Society, Claire Hopkins, said that in COVID-19 patients in Italy and elsewhere, the loss of smell was the first symptom of the disease that appeared before fever, cough and breathing problems developed.
“Coronavirus can attack nerve endings by blocking signals from olfactory receptors to the brain,” said Hopkins in the Washington Post.
The doctor also noted that patients who complained of loss of smell did not later have such severe breathing problems as patients who did not have the symptom. However, this is still too small a comparative group to be able to determine the relationship between these phenomena.
The latest research into loss of smell with COVID-19:
- Polish scientists discovered the cause of the loss of smell in the course of COVID-19
- Prof. Butowt: up to 90 percent patients with COVID-19 exhibit changes in smell and taste
- Why do coronavirus patients lose their sense of smell? Scientists found the cause
Conjunctivitis or redness of the eyeballs are other symptoms that may appear in the course of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection. A study of 38 hospitalized patients from Hubei Province, China, found that one in three of them developed red eyes.
However, it is a relatively rare symptom and occurs in seriously ill people. It is also a fact that the coronavirus has been detected in the membrane covering the eye in a small number of patients. However, it is not known how he got there. Perhaps the coronavirus can enter the body there.
See also: An unusual symptom of coronavirus infection. COVID-19 Disease Causes Eye Redness?
Coronavirus can contribute to the formation of dangerous blood clots in the blood vessels. Doctors observed this disturbing symptom especially in the vascular system of the legs. The broken clot can enter the lungs and kill the patient.
A study of 81 Wuhan patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pneumonia revealed that 20 of them developed blood clots in their blood vessels. Eight patients died.
Some organ damage in COVID-19 is caused by an overreaction of the immune system, a cytokine storm. The body produces tons of immune cells that are released into the bloodstream and attack healthy tissue throughout the body – causing severe damage to the lungs and other organs.
Doctors and scientists have found that the incidence of some organ damage is too great to be attributed to just a cytokine storm. Coronavirus infection also plays a big role.
Find out more from the latest research:
- Autopsies of patients with COVID-19. “Clots are found in almost every organ”
- A defective clotting mechanism is responsible for the severity of COVID-19?
- Von Willebrand factor may be responsible for the severe course of COVID-19?
- Many COVID-19 patients die of thrombosis
New research also shows that the coronavirus affects changes in the bone marrow. Scientists from the Spanish Foundation. Jimenez Diaz, noticed a marked bone marrow destruction in the bodies of patients who died from COVID-19. The observations were made on nearly 40 bodies of patients who died in Madrid as a result of COVID-19. Doctors worked on the material collected as part of the biopsy.
Dr. Miguel Piris Pinilla, who was one of the authors of the study, said that the body’s SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection leads to inflammation in various organs of the body and in the bone marrow. Scientists have found in the bone marrow of people infected with the coronavirus, serious damage to phagocytic cells, which allow the phagocytosis to get rid of unnecessary or dangerous elements, e.g. pathogens, dead cells.
From a review of research published in the Annals of Neurology, we learn that approx. 50 percent. patients hospitalized due to infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus develop neurological symptoms – dizziness, difficulty concentrating, weakness and the previously mentioned loss of smell and taste. Earlier studies suggested that as much as 65 percent. COVID-19 patients experience symptoms such as irritability, hallucinations and confusion. Hospitalized patients may struggle with panic attacks and anxiety attacks.
The “The Conversation” describes a 54-year-old man who developed Guillain-Barre syndrome following COVID-19 infection. It is an autoimmune disease that progressively weakens muscle strength due to damage to peripheral nerves. If detected early, it can be curable.
As the article reads, the first reports of Guillain-Barre syndrome in the COVID-19 pandemic come from Italy, Spain and China. So far, the complication has occurred very rarely. 10 patients are known to develop the disease – two in the US, five in Italy, two in Iran and one in China.
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