Coronavirus Effects: How COVID-19 Harms Different Body Organs

The common known symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. These symptoms appear two to fourteen days after exposure to the virus. Little is known how the novel virus has created havoc on different other organs of the body. As the number of confirmed cases is growing worldwide, people are grappling to know more about the novel virus, and how it affects different organs of the human body.

In a recent study by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, patients were classified into three groups: whether their symptoms are mild, severe or critical. Most patients exhibit mild symptoms (81%), while 4.7 % reach the critical stage. Elderly people with pre-existing conditions are the most vulnerable to the COVID-19, while men are of greater risk of death than women if they contract COVID-19.

Here are some facts that health workers in the frontline and health experts are reporting about the clinical features of the disease:

Symptoms. In a study published in Lancet, patients with coronavirus exhibited the following physical manifestations: fever, cough, shortness of breath, muscle ache, confusion, headache, sore throat, rhinorrhea, chest pain, diarrhea, and nausea and vomiting.

Critical stages of disease report of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), Arrhythmia, shock and multiple organ failure (acute cardiac injury and acute kidney injury) among patients.

COVID-19 Damages Lungs the Most

The same study also revealed that the majority of the patients (75%) showed bilateral pneumonia, a kind of pneumonia that affects both lungs. Fourteen percent (14%) of the patients showed multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity, and one patient had a pneumothorax or a collapsed lung.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)

Seventeen (17%) patients in the study developed ARDS, or what is commonly described as widespread inflammation of the lungs. Symptoms of which include shortness of breath, rapid breathing, and bluish skin coloration. ARDS, however, is not only associated with COVID-19. Infection, trauma, and sepsis can also trigger it. A recent study of coronavirus patients revealed that on average, patients experience difficulty breathing on day 5 after exposure to the virus. ARDS, on the other hand, develops 8 days after the patient has exhibited coronavirus symptoms.

Stomach and Intestines Problems

Nausea and diarrhea are reported as common symptoms of patients with COVID-19. A case study on the first COVID-19 patient admitted in the US report that the stool sample of the patient tested positive for coronavirus. As of this time, researchers do not have evidence of the possibility of spreading the virus through the fecal transmission.

Heart and Blood Vessels

Among the common complaints of patients with coronavirus is chest pain. Arrhythmia was listed among common complaints of patients, while acute cardiac injury was reported in several cases of COVID-19 patients admitted in Wuhan, China. However, there is no indication that the virus damages the heart directly.

Kidneys

Acute kidney injury is reported in severe and advanced cases of the disease.

Dr. James Cherry, a research professor of pediatrics in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said that the "kidney damage may have been due to other changes during the infection". Pneumonia leads to less oxygen circulating in the organs, and may cause damage in the kidneys, Cherry explained. The World Health Organization pointed out that there is little evidence to support that coronavirus affects kidneys directly.