In a recent study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, researchers analyzed MRI data from long-term Covid patients and found that mild organ damage continued to occur in 59% of patients, even up to a year after being inflamed with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. From MRI data, the researchers observed that mild damage occurred in the patients’ heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, spleen and pancreas.
The researchers focused primarily on patients suffering from severe shortness of breath, cognitive impairments, and a decreased quality of life after a Covid-19 infection. Of the 536 long-term Covid patients residing in the UK, 13% were hospitalised after being diagnosed with a viral illness. And about 32% of the study participants were health professionals. Their average age was forty-five years and 73% of them were women.
While 59% of them had a single organ deficiency, 29% had an organ deficiency one year after a Covid infection. The only good news about those effects is that between six months and a year later, the number of patients reporting shortness of breath decreased. from 38% to 30%. For cognitive dysfunction, there was a 10% reduction, from 48% to 38%, and the decline in quality of life experienced the greatest reduction, from 57% to 45% of 536 patients.
“Several studies verify symptom patience in Americans with long COVID for up to a year. We now publish that 3 in five people with long COVID have impairment of at least one organ, and one in 4 has impairment of two or more organs, in some cases without symptoms,” the researchers wrote in their study.
“The effect on quality of life and work stoppages, especially among fitness staff, is a fundamental fear for individuals, fitness systems and economies. Many fitness professionals have not had any illnesses in the past,” they explained. “The magnitude of the long burden of COVID demands measures to develop, compare and enforce evidence-based research, remedies and rehabilitation. “
The researchers further added: “In the UK and other countries, prolonged COVID is placing a heavy burden on healthcare use across specialties, and a definitive solution is lacking. Such MRI evaluation has a prospective application beyond the pandemic for multisystem assessment and research, adding in low-resource settings.
According to a BBC report, in the UK, between 5,000 and 10,000 NHS staff could be on sick leave due to prolonged Covid. Many said they felt abandoned across the NHS due to a lack of a good enough salary in health. Since 2021, more than 40,000 nurses in the UK alone have walked off their jobs due to burnout since the pandemic began in late 2019.
Currently, researchers estimate that at least two million people in the UK suffer from Prolonged Covid. Despite the maximum prevalence of long Covid, there are still no clear strategies to diagnose this disease. Lately there are also no medical remedies to combat the long Covid. Patients complained that doctors ignored their long-term symptoms after infection, such as chronic fatigue syndrome, or MS.
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