the lingering organ damage of 'long covid' on the healthy

'what all the people in the world with long covid are crying out for is to be taken seriously.'

by dave yasvinski

published nov 18, 2020

3 minute read

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3 minute read

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people with long covid may suffer from organ damage: preliminary study

scientists don't know why some young, healthy adults experience 'long covid'. getty

lingering effects of covid-19 can do damage to multiple organs in young, healthy individuals months after infection, a finding that has researchers scrambling to paint a fuller picture of the virus as it continues to spread worldwide. there’s no short answer as to why some previously healthy adults suffer from “long covid” after contracting the virus. but the enduring condition — typified by feelings of brain fog, breathlessness and pain — can wreak havoc on the body, according to a study published by the bmj. the preliminary findings, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, come from the coverscan study, a network of 40 specialized clinics assembled by the u.k.’s national health service to gather more information on the organ health of 500 low-risk patients that have been living with covid-19. early results from the first 200 patients to submit to a series of blood tests, mri scans and questionnaires show that almost 70 per cent of participants suffered damage to one or more organs, including the lungs, heart, liver and pancreas, four months after infection, according to the guardian. “the good news is that the impairment is mild but, even with a conservative lens, there is some impairment and in 25 per cent of people it affects two or more organs,” said amitava banerjee, a cardiologist and associate professor at university college london. “this is of interest because we need to know if (the impairments) continue or improve — or if there is a subgroup of people who could get worse.” some symptoms experienced by patients correlated to specific organ impairment (breathlessness from lung impairment, for example) while others did not. “it supports the idea that there is an insult at organ level, and potentially multi-organ level, which is detectable, and which could help to explain at least some of the symptoms and the trajectory of the disease,” banerjee said. while the study revealed a correlation between symptoms and organ damage, it could not say one was causing the other. it is also important to note that none of the participant had scans performed before contracting the disease, a factor unlikely to have impacted the results based on the prior good health and relatively young age of patients. subjects will continue to be monitored and compared to people without the virus, as well as to people with other viral infections such as influenza in an attempt to end the frustration and lack of information surrounding the elusive condition. “what all the people in the world with long covid are crying out for is to be taken seriously and to have some idea of what might be going on at the organ level — so to begin to assemble some kind of evidence base is absolutely the way to go,” said danny altmann, a professor of immunology at imperial college london. “i think this is a first step in a long journey toward providing some kind of mechanism (for their symptoms) and eventually some therapeutics for people with long covid.” more than 300,000 canadians have been diagnosed with covid-19 to date and, while the vast majority recover, an untold number continue to struggle with the virus months after diagnosis. a group of 39 doctors, themselves victims of long covid or “long haulers”, published a manifesto on the bmj to share their experiences as physicians and lay out a path forward. “this means accepting an emerging picture that prolonged symptoms are having a substantial impact on a significant minority of people and acknowledging that death is not the only outcome to measure,” they wrote. “we argue that further research into chronic covid-19 symptoms is essential. “failure to understand the underlying biological mechanisms causing these persisting symptoms risks missing opportunities to identify risk factors, prevent chronicity and find treatment approaches for people affected now and in the future.” dave yasvinski is a freelance writer with healthing.ca.don’t miss the latest on covid-19, reopening and life. subscribe to healthing’s daily newsletter covid life.