<
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2024/01/16/how-covid-19-affects-your-heart-brain-and-other-organs>
'It's easy to be complacent about COVID-19. Most people experience only mild
issues – fever and coughing, maybe congestion and shortness of breath.
But the coronavirus is capable of causing much more than a simple respiratory
illness, affecting organs throughout the body, experts say.
"We see people have symptoms from almost head to toe in terms of how they feel,
how they function and what they can do," said Dr. Adrian Hernandez, a
cardiologist who is director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham,
North Carolina.
The new year started with an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S.,
prompting Hernandez and other experts to advise caution, especially for those
at high risk.
While the short-term effects of COVID-19 can be flu-like, even mild cases can
lead to long COVID – a constellation of problems that can persist for weeks or
months. More than 200 symptoms have been linked to long COVID, said Hernandez,
who has overseen many COVID-19 studies.
Because COVID-19 typically affects breathing and can lead to problems such as
pneumonia, many people may think it's primarily a lung disease. It's not that
simple, said Dr. Nisha Viswanathan, director of the long COVID program at the
David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"I would argue that COVID-19 is not a disease of the lungs at all," she said.
"It seems most likely that it is what we call a vascular and neurologic
infection, affecting both nerve endings and our cardiovascular system."
It's no surprise that experts say SARS-CoV-2 – the name of the virus that
causes COVID-19 – is complex, with many of its pathways just beginning to be
understood. But some things are becoming clear. One of the best reviews of long
COVID symptoms, Viswanathan said, appeared last January in
Nature Reviews
Microbiology. It detailed the disease's effects throughout the body, including
the pancreas, blood vessels and reproductive system.'
Via Violet Blue’s
Pandemic Roundup: January 18, 2024
https://www.patreon.com/posts/pandemic-roundup-96725565
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
