ORGAN DISEASES

– Higher mortality

– Myocarditis (heart muscle inflammation)

As a number of international studies have now clearly shown, COVID disease heavily strains the heart. This is further indicated by a strikingly higher mortality for COVID patients with previous cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure. Several studies have also shown that patients with severe disease often have elevated levels of a biomarker in their blood, which is released by dying heart muscle cells. In many patients who were healthy before COVID, the viral infection has been shown to cause heart muscle inflammation. It is still unclear whether COVID-19 itself causes the damage to the heart or – more likely – the immune reactions triggered by the infection are responsible for this damage.

– Reduced lung function

– Incurable pulmonary fibrosis

COVID-19 is a lung disease. The damage to the lungs is sometimes so significant that  partially- reduced lung function can persist long after the initial acute COVID-19 infection. In examinations of recovered COVID-19 patients, for example, ground glass opacity was found in the lungs, which indicates permanent organ damage.

Future studies must now investigate whether the patients have developed pulmonary fibrosis, in which the lung connective tissue becomes inflamed.
This condition it harder for oxygen to reach the blood vessels, the lungs stiffen and breathing becomes shallow and rapid. Breathing disorders, shortness of breath and a dry, irritating cough are the consequences; physical performance decreases, and even everyday activities become difficult.
Pulmonary fibrosis is not curable, as the scarring changes in the lung tissue do not regress. However, the progression of pulmonary fibrosis can be delayed and, in some cases, even stopped – provided it is detected in time.

– Heart damage, pulmonary embolisms, vascular occlusions

– Multi-organ failure

Various studies have now shown that the entire cell layer on the inside of the blood and lymph vessels (endothelium) of various organs was inflamed in some deceased COVID patients.

This leads to the conclusion that the viral disease leads to severe microcirculatory disturbances, which damage the heart and cause pulmonary embolisms and vascular occlusions in the brain and intestinal tract. The result is multi-organ failure, which can often lead to death.

Disturbance to the senses of taste and smell can be found in over 80 per cent of COVD-19 patients. This already occurs at the beginning of the infection and can therefore indicate the early stages of an COVID-19 infection. This stands in contrast to infections with the normal flu – which is triggered by adenoviruses- where disturbance to taste and smell only occur in the advanced stages of the disease.

Unfortunately, as a result of the impaired taste and smell, the nervous system is also affected by the virus. This is because the olfactory nerve leads from the nasal mucosa, through the skull and directly into the brain. Thus, the nerve cells are a  gateway for the virus into the central nervous system.

– Destroyed nerves in the brain and spinal cord

– Epilepsy due to meningitis

Several studies from England show how serious the brain damage can be, even as a late consequence of COVID, and even in patients with mild symptoms.
Often, this damage is recognised.
English neurologists have diagnosed patients with acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis (ADEM). This inflammatory disease causes the myelin sheaths of the nerves in the brain and spinal cord.

Epileptic seizures, which occur after meningitis, are also frequently  observed in COVID patients. In some people, the virus penetrates the brain stem and damages the respiratory centre there. This could explain why particularly older COVID-19 patients sometimes stop breathing without previously having had significant breathing difficulties due to a lung infection.

– Permanent dialysis necessary

– Blood clotting disorders, embolisms in veins and lungs

When COVID-19 patients with pneumonia have to be ventilated, this can also damage the kidneys and often leads to acute kidney failure. As pneumonia often causes a large build-up of fluid in the lungs, the patient is given medication that removes fluid from the body. However, this reduces the blood supply to the kidneys, which can no longer fulfill their cleansing function.

In about one third of COVID-19 patients, the kidneys are so severely impaired that they need dialysis. In addition, the blood clots more quickly in patients with severe COVID-19 disease. As a result, blood cots can block blood vessels and often also the kidneys. Blood clotting disorders and embolisms in the veins and lungs are also possible consequences of COVID-19 disease. Additionally, small infections in kidney tissue have been observed in many patients.

– Skin rashes

Marked skin lesions were observed in COVID-19 patients in several countries.
Especially in children and adolescents, small dermatological lesions appeared on the feet. These purple-coloured patches resemble those of measles, chickenpox or chilblains. On the toes, the skin appearance usually resembles frostbite or net-like patterns, usually caused by clogging blood clots in small blood vessels.

Sometimes, however, welts, redness and hives-like rashes have been diagnosed on other parts of the body.
It is possible that the bluish discolouration of the skin can be explained by a disorder of blood clotting disorder, which could be triggered by the virus.