For now, the “long-term COVID-19 symptoms” that scientists are concerned about do exist, but their duration is uncertain, given that COVID-19 is only a little over two years old.
Scientists believe that while it is not clear COVID – 19 for hospitalized patients with serious influence can last long, but can be seen from the existing data during the Sars outbreak, the aftermath will not only in the lungs by long-term damage, in the heart, immune system, brain and other parts of the suffered long-term damage, and the symptoms will last for years.
In 2011 Harvey Moldofsky and John Patcai of the University of Toronto, Canada, followed 22 Sars patients who were still unable to work 13-36 months after infection. Another study, published in 2009, followed SARS patients for four years and found that 40 percent suffered from chronic fatigue.
Peixun Zhang of Peking University People’s Hospital and his colleagues tracked the health of 71 people hospitalized with SARS between 2003 and 2018. Even after 15 years, 4.6 percent still had significant lesions in their lungs, and 38 percent had reduced lung diffusion, meaning their lungs were unable to transfer oxygen to their blood and remove carbon dioxide from it.
Long-term COVID-19 symptoms are a public health problem that cannot be ignored and may become a new chronic condition. How to reduce and avoid long-term sequelae of COVID-19? A new paper from the Office for National Statistics in Newport, England, certainly provides an answer.