With more than 2.5 million COVID-19 infections confirmed in 185 countries globally, scientists have made themselves busy in doing clinical trials for vaccines while health officials want to slow the spread with effective policy implementation. Meanwhile for the common public, it is integral to truly know what we are fighting and what is going behind the scenes of the deadly pandemic’s working. In the final part of this series, we discuss how SARS-COV-2 virus damages organs beyond lungs in the body.
Crux of the Matter
Previous articles on ‘Understanding COVID19’ can be found below: Understanding COVID19 – I: How Coronavirus Attacks The Body Understanding COVID19 – II: The Iron Ion Debate Understanding COVID19 – III: Rays Of Hope
Organs that are affected by SARS-CoV-2:
Lungs The immune cells crowd alveolus, or air sac, whose walls break down during an attack by the virus, diminishing oxygen uptake. Patients cough, fever rises, and breathing becomes laboured.
Liver COVID-19 patients who are treated with high doses of antivirals and antibiotics are prone to drug-induced liver injury.
Kidney Kidney failure or acute renal impairment can occur due to plummeting blood pressure.
Intestines Some 20% or more of patients have diarrhea, a condition of watery bowel movements occurring frequently.
Brain Some COVID-19 patients have strokes, seizures, confusion, and brain inflammation.
Eyes Conjunctivitis, inflammation of the membrane that lines the front of the eye and inner eyelid, is more common in the sickest patients.
Nose Some patients lose their sense of smell and cause an olfactory loss.
Heart and Blood Vessels Infection can also promote blood clots, heart attacks, and cardiac arrests.
Curiopedia
Flu is short for influenza, which comes from an Italian (and Medieval Latin) word meaning “influence”. At one point the effect of the flu was believed to be caused by the influence of the stars. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the first known influenza pandemic struck in 1580.
Any infectious disease caused by a pathogen that has jumped from non-human animals to humans is called a Zoonosis (plural Zoonoses). Some major zoonoses diseases are, Ebola, SARS, SARS-CoV-2, Swine Flu, Rabies, etc.
The term malaria originates from Medieval Italian: mala aria—”bad air”. The disease was formerly called ague or marsh fever due to its association with swamps and marshland.
Curated Coverage
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