Double Trouble: How Catching COVID-19 Twice Can Put Your Organs at Greater Risk

Double Trouble: How Catching COVID-19 Twice Can Put Your Organs at Greater Risk

September 23, 2024 Catherine Williams - Chief Editor Health

Seniors account for 88% of hospitalization deaths
A single test cannot diagnose infection

Even though the pandemic has passed and we have returned to our daily lives, many patients still occur. In this situation, the National Academy of Sciences of the United States announced the damage caused by chronic corona infection in June. It is a chronic corona disease related to infection that persists for at least 3 months after infection, and is in a state of relapse and remission or progressing disease, and affects one or more organs. Here is the information organized by AARP.

▶Forgotten Corona

No longer afraid of COVID. More than 98% of the U.S. population has some immunity, either through vaccines or previous infections, and Paxrobid and other drugs can suppress acute symptoms. Now it’s like a bad cold. But COVID-19 is not gone. The World Health Organization estimates that COVID-19 is still killing at least 1,000 people a week worldwide. And seniors and people with underlying medical conditions remain the groups most at risk for severe acute COVID.

Seniors 65 and older accounted for 63% of hospitalizations and 88% of hospital-related deaths due to COVID-19 in the first half of 2023, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While the risk of acute COVID infection has largely disappeared, the damage caused by chronic COVID infection is emerging. In the past four years, 10-20% of people infected with COVID-19 have experienced chronic COVID damage. A 2022 study found that reinfection can increase the risk of complications in major organ systems, and this risk lasts at least six months after the initial infection. Many chronic disease processes, such as cardiovascular disease, dementia, and cancer, have also been claimed to take years to develop.

▶Chronic Corona and Mortality Rate

As of July, COVID-19 accounted for less than 1% of all deaths in the U.S. Life expectancy in the U.S. has increased over the past two years to 77.5 years, but it is still below pre-pandemic levels. Many factors are at play, but the long-term impact of COVID-19 is clear.

A study published in the journal Nature Medicine found that people who were hospitalized for COVID-19 had a 29% higher risk of death three years after infection. Those who were not hospitalized also had an increased risk of a variety of medical problems. Even patients who had mild COVID-19 attacks had an increased risk of persistent respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurological problems three years after their initial infection. Those with chronic COVID had a significantly increased risk of serious health problems affecting the brain, lungs, and heart.

One theory that explains the effects of chronic COVID on the heart and the body as a whole is inflammation. Each time you get infected, you may be at increased risk for chronic COVID, and some heart conditions can develop, especially if you have a history of heart disease, including stroke, heart attack, and heart failure. This can be made worse by the virus invading the coronary artery tissue and triggering an inflammatory response that can damage the heart.

Another important factor is vaccination. Vaccination can reduce the risk of developing chronic COVID. Vaccination rates tend to increase with age, and seniors over 75 are the most fully vaccinated and therefore best protected from chronic COVID. This may explain why chronic COVID affects people ages 35 to 64. According to the CDC, the risk appears to decrease for those over 65.

▶Specific symptoms

No single test can determine if you have chronic COVID. Chronic COVID is usually diagnosed by reviewing the patient’s health history and current symptoms, and ruling out other causes. There is no comprehensive treatment. What your primary care physician can do is refer you to a specialist, such as a cardiologist who treats arrhythmias or a therapist who treats anxiety, for intensive care. There are chronic COVID centers across the United States.

If you have a chronic COVID-19 infection that significantly limits one or more major life activities, you are considered disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Here are some conditions that can persist months or even years after an acute COVID infection:

1. Extreme fatigue = It is common for the body to experience fatigue as it fights the disease. Some people suffer from fatigue for a long time after the initial COVID infection. This may be diagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome, which has been increasing since the pandemic began. It is a disabling level of fatigue that severely limits daily activities. Persistent fatigue may be caused by mitochondrial damage caused by the COVID infection, which limits energy production in the muscles.

2. Shortness of breath = According to the chest CT analysis of 144 patients aged 27 to 80, more than a third of those infected with COVID-19 had lung scarring and thickening two years after being exposed to the virus. This can prevent them from breathing deeply and lead to shortness of breath.

3. Cognitive changes = Concentration difficulties, emptiness, and forgetfulness are just some of the brain problems that COVID can cause. It can last for weeks or months, and for some chronic COVID patients, it can become a routine that lasts indefinitely. It can remain in the human body for a long time, changing the microbiome and disrupting the ability to produce serotonin, which can cause cognitive impairment.

4. Depression and anxiety = Mood-related disorders are one of the five problems caused by COVID. There may be a direct link between the virus’s effects on the brain and mood problems. It has been reported that 12 weeks after infection, 11-28% of people showed symptoms of depression, and 3-12% of them had severe symptoms.

5. Sleep Disorders = 40% of chronic COVID-19 patients reported significant changes in their sleep patterns. Of the 1,056 COVID-19 patients, 76.1% suffered from insomnia and 22.8% suffered from severe insomnia.

6. Digestive disorders = Diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, abdominal bloating and gas: These symptoms of IBS may be aftereffects. A study of 729 survivors found that 29% experienced at least one new chronic gastrointestinal symptom six months after infection.

7. New or worsening allergies = Some people have experienced allergies they didn’t have before. Studies have shown that the risk of developing allergic diseases such as asthma and allergic rhinitis increases significantly in the first 30 days after being diagnosed with COVID. This may be because the immune system remains hypersensitive even after fighting the virus.

8. Pain = Some survivors struggle with chronic pain, from joint pain to testicular pain. They are at higher risk for inflammatory arthritis, and women are at greater risk than men.

Reporter Jang Byeong-hee

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