The novel coronavirus still remains a cause of concern in many parts of the world and the number of cases continues to rise. In India, the good news, however, is that we have a high recovery rate – over 50 per cent. The direct fatality rate for COVID-19 is low when compared to some of the previous pandemics. But, the bigger concern is whether COVID-19 survivors recovering fully or not?
The coronavirus is quite new and therefore we don’t have a clear answer to this question. Also, there have been reports of COVID patients getting re-infected in China. We don’t have sufficient data to analyse the long-term effects of the deadly virus and this is where it becomes scarier. Some studies have shown that some long-term effects of COVID-19.
“When they say ‘recovered’ they don’t tell you that that means you may need a lung transplant. Or that you may come back after d/c with a massive heart attack or stroke bc COVID makes (sic).” a nurse working in Atlanta, US, had tweeted. This points out that patients surviving COVID-19 have no idea how their health condition may unfold in the coming days.
ALSO READ | What Has Led To Rise In Mental Health Problems During Covid-19?
According to Dr KK Aggarwal, Padma Shri & Renowned Interventional Cardiologist, there are two phases of COVID-19 or in other words, it causes two types of manifestation – temporary manifestation (for first 9 days) and persistent manifestation which takes 3-4 weeks.
“The first one is of 9 days and we call it viral phase. During this time, the COVID-19 may cause loss of sense of smell and taste, pain in the ear, diarrhea, pneumonia, cough, fever, and a whole lot of other things. It can cause kidney failure, thrombosis, rash, heart problems. But after 9 days this virus becomes non-replicative and after that, we call it the post-COVID phase of the deadly virus. So the damage that it causes before leaving your body may take 3-4 months to recover. These may include post-COVID diarrhea, gastritis, esophagitis, pharyngitis, and pneumonia. It can cause post-COVID recurrent loss of smell and taste which disappears in four weeks…. If it has caused encephalitis then this may or may not recover.” Dr Aggarwal said.
@DrKKAggarwal on two phases of #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/kGi9FEvIgQ
— Raghwendra Shukla (@ShuklaRaghav) July 8, 2020
However, if COVID-19 causes paralysis, stroke, gangrene, or heart attack, the damage caused will be permanent.
“If because of the hypercoagulable state it causes heart attack, pulmonary embolism, paralysis, or clots in some other body parts, the recovery time will depend on the damage caused by that particular clot,” he said.
@DrKKAggarwal on post viral inflammatory phenomenon of #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/GpeE1OdgRp
— Raghwendra Shukla (@ShuklaRaghav) July 8, 2020
This is why researchers feel that treatments of COVID-19 patients need to be evaluated based on the specific disease phase.
