Servet opens the way to clinical trials to stop the coronavirus
13 July 2020
Aragonese researchers work on intelligent materials that detect their own cracks
13 July 2020
Different studies show that patients who have suffered from the disease suffer from disorders even after having overcome it.
The nightmare of a coronavirus patient does not end when they leave the ICU and return home. Covid-19 can be fatal at first, but it also attacks in the medium and long term. Different international and Spanish investigations have begun to offer results on the consequences that the virus causes in the body once the worst of the disease has been overcome and the bad news is that the majority of those who have had Covid suffer its effects even when They believe they are already recovered. According to a study carried out with 143 Italian patients discharged from the hospital and published on Thursday in the medical journal Jama Network, 87% suffered at least one symptom 60 days after infection. And the scientific evidence indicates that Covid-19 will cause damage long after society considers it over. Another report published in 2009 on 233 patients with SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), whose origin is also in another coronavirus, showed that four years later, 40% of those who had suffered from it still suffered from depression or chronic fatigue.
Brain problems
One of the most disturbing consequences of covid-19 are brain problems, from hallucinations to fatal vascular accidents, which could be more common than previously believed and affect even patients with benign symptoms, according to a study. published this Wednesday in the scientific journal 'Brain' and collected by AFP. A team of British doctors from University College London (UCL) studied the neurological symptoms of 43 patients hospitalized due to a confirmed or suspected coronavirus infection and found ten cases of temporary brain dysfunction, twelve of brain inflammation, eight cerebral vascular accidents (CVA ) and eight from nerve injuries. Most of the patients suffering from inflammation were diagnosed with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), a rare disease usually seen in children after suffering a viral infection.
Pulmonary fibrosis
In one of its documents aimed at professionals, the Ministry of Health points out that Covid-19 patients, "by analogy with SARS", can develop pulmonary fibrosis. This condition causes scarring of the lung tissue, which becomes thicker and harder, and causes breathing difficulties in sufferers.
Asthenia, dyspnea and weakness
The Costa del Sol Hospital in Malaga has treated 68 patients who were hospitalized on the ward or in the intensive care units during the coronavirus with pneumonia, in most cases, bilateral, to know their evolution. And patients are detailing as the most frequent symptoms, once they have returned to normal, asthenia (extreme tiredness), dyspnea (suffocation sensation, generally with effort), muscle weakness and weight loss. Pulmonologist Borja Valencia, one of the doctors participating in the study, explains that "patients report nightmares and show symptoms of depression, insecurity and affectation of mood and, above all, they report feeling fear and worry, especially about the fact of being able to infect someone in your family.
It does not seem to be a direct consequence of the coronavirus, but once Primary Care consultations begin to return to normal, doctors see more and more patients, men and women, who report how their hair has fallen out during confinement. The alteration is called acute telogen effluvium and the cause must be sought in the stress and anxiety of confinement, both due to the fear of becoming infected and the patients' fear of losing their job or seeing their economic situation worsen.
Frailty in the elderly
And it is not only those who have overcome the coronavirus who face possible consequences. So do people who have stayed in their homes, without going out, for weeks. And among this group, the risk of the elderly stands out. A research group from the University of Zaragoza has detected that elderly people suffer from an increase in fragility due to confinement, which can become a greater risk of injury due to the risk of falls and a drastic reduction in autonomy. staff.
