COVID can shrink the brain, increase the risk of heart attacks, affect fertility, scar the lungs and more…

9 Mar

COVID is not the common cold, it is not the seasonal flu and it CAN leave you with life-long health problems. Understand your risks.

Scientists and researchers have been steadily gathering data and insights into the long-term effects of COVID (see sources below). While leading health authorities fixated on loss of smell in the early days of the pandemic, using this symptom as an indicator of disease before testing scaled up, new studies explain why people lose their sense of smell and what contributes to it’s permanent loss or slow return. Even more serious, new studies suggest COVID can lead to cognitive decline, lung scarring, damaged reproductive organs, increased depression and more.

We acknowledge the impact of COVID fatigue on public thinking and media coverage, but urge more attention and continued considerations.

“A broad array of cardiovascular diseases, including cerebrovascular disease, dysrhythmias, ischemic and nonischemic heart disease, pericarditis, myocarditis, heart failure, and thromboembolic disease. The risks were evident even in people who had mild COVID-19 and did not need to be hospitalized during the acute phase of the disease.”

— Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, clinical epidemiologist at Washington University

By ignoring the science and using phrases like we need to learn to live with COVID, this level of apathy hides the true long-term effects of COVID on public health, threatens continued research and limits critical funding. Turning away now creates additional risks as we inevitably face new waves of infections and new variants. Research must continue and people must understand the true health risks of COVID.

UNDERSTAND YOUR RISKS

COVID RISKS FOR MEN

Using an electron microscope, researchers “found coronavirus particles in penile tissue samples taken from two former COVID-19 patients who became impotent following their infection, which had occurred six and eight months earlier.” Other effects in men indicate that COVID can lead to decreased testosterone and sperm count, and can increase erectile dysfunction, Peyronine disease, testicular pain, testicular atrophy and declining seamen quality.

COVID RISKS FOR WOMEN

“Scientists found significant differences in MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans before and after infection. Even after a mild infection, the overall size of the brain had shrunk slightly, with less grey matter in the parts related to smell and memory.”

— Rebecca Morelle, BBC Science Editor

Beyond disruptions to the menstrual cycle, women tend to suffer with more severe insomnia and anxiety than men. Early studies are inconclusive on the the impact of COVID in becoming pregnant, but show an increased risk of complications if contracting COVID. Pregnant women with COVID have higher rates of maternal mortality, preeclampsia and preterm birth. What should not be discounted is the affect on mental health of pregnant women caused by the pandemic with anxiety experienced by at least 42% of pregnant women. Women are more likely to get long-COVID.

LONG-COVID

The Financial Times recently published an article about long-COVID and how it is affecting staff absences, and the Office of National Statistics estimates that 1.3 million people in the UK are experiencing long COVID. The virus can damage the lungs, heart and brain, which increases the risk of long-term health problems, including fatigue, joint pain, insomnia, irregular heartbeats, memory decline and shortness of breath that can continue indefinitely.

COVID RISKS IN CHILDREN

Children who contract COVID are generally fine, but COVID can enter organ tissues, including the heart, lungs, blood vessels, kidneys, digestive system, skin and brain, inflaming those tissues and causing serious disease. Long-COVID in children presents differently in children than in adults, but more research is desperately needed. Some parents have commented with “descriptions of very alarming neuropsychiatric sequelae.”

“Symptoms of long covid were first thought to include fatigue, muscle and joint pain, headache, insomnia, respiratory problems and heart palpitations. Now, support groups and researchers say there may be up to 100 other symptoms, including gastrointestinal problems, nausea, dizziness, seizures, hallucinations and testicular pain.”

— US National Library of Medicine

SOURCES

The Guardian: Covid can shrink brain and damage its tissue, finds research

BioRxiv: An immunoPET probe to SARS-CoV-2 reveals early infection of the male genital tract in rhesus macaques

Nature Medicine: Long-term cardiovascular outcomes of COVID-19

Mayo Clinic: COVID-19 symptoms can sometimes persist for months. The virus can damage the lungs, heart and brain, which increases the risk of long-term health problems

John Hopkins: COVID ‘Long Haulers’: Long-Term Effects of COVID-19

John Hopkins: COVID-19 Lung Damage

Medical News Today: How does COVID-19 affect the heart?

Bayer Global: Long-term effects of COVID-19: Coronavirus can damage the heart

Science Direct: Effects of the COVID pandemic on pregnancy outcomes

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine: SARS-CoV-2 Infecting Pregnant Women and the Fetus, Intrauterine Transmission, and Placental Pathology During the COVID-19 Pandemic: It's Complicated