What does Corona do to the body?

Some people only feel a little cold or don’t feel anything at all, while others are bedridden for weeks: corona can do a wide variety of things to our body – and is more than a lung disease. The virus has these effects from head to toe, from brain to kidney.

What does Corona do to the body? Beginnings in the nose and throat

Whether speaking, sneezing, breathing, coughing or singing: aerosols containing the virus are responsible for the fact that this Coronavirus ever transmits between people. In this way, it practically migrates from mouth to mouth – as the droplets containing the virus dock in the nose and throat. Here the viruses first multiply and inflame the upper respiratory tract. Cough, sore throat and loss of taste (only rare with Omikron). Corona symptoms. For many infected people, these milder symptoms remain. Noisy RKI that is 80 percent of the diseases. But in some cases, the virus continues to migrate – and can cause damage throughout the body.

This is what Corona does to the lungs

The viruses do not stop in the throat, but attack the deeper airways and the lung over, it can trigger pneumonia and even lead to lung failure. The virus attacks the lungs in three phases: it multiplies there, then it provokes a strong immune response and finally it destroys the lung tissue. Coughing occurs due to the irritated lung wall. The air sacs in the lungs can no longer absorb oxygen. Patients suffer from shortness of breath. 25 percent of SARS patients suffer from this.

So if the virus moves deeper into the lungs, you can feel it too: you no longer just feel slightly cold, but really sick. Shortness of breath, cough and fever are also present. This mainly affects older people and risk groups who are not as resistant to the virus. But younger people also suffer from severe courses like these.

Corona does this damage to the heart

In some people, the virus does not stop in the lungs, but rather spreads further in the body. Patients, for example, suffer more frequently from thrombosis, i.e. bleeding islands. And that can be dangerous for everyone: the clots are transported through the whole body with the blood. They can trigger an embolism in the lungs, a stroke in the brain and an infarction in the heart.

That heart is particularly endangered. Infected people are more prone to heart muscle inflammation and cardiac arrhythmias. Scientists have succeeded in detecting corona viruses in the heart.

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This is what Corona does to the brain

But the virus does not stop here either. The small virus can also Brain cause immense damage, at least indirectly. This is particularly noticeable in severe cases: the overreaction of the immune system can also trigger inflammation in the brain and spinal cord. This can lead to memory problems, confusion, difficulty concentrating and epileptic seizures. In addition, the lack of oxygen in severe cases damages the brain. These, as we now know after two and a half years, can last for months: Long Covid.

This is how the nervous system suffers from Corona

It can be complete nervous system be affected by the virus. This can lead to paralysis in the part outside the brain (peripheral nervous system). This so-called Guillain-Barré syndrome is already known from other diseases such as other viral lung infections and bacterial gastrointestinal infections.

Corona in the stomach: the kidneys and the intestines

Although corona is a lung disease, the virus can also cause damage in the abdomen – especially in the kidney. It is the second most frequently affected organ in a severe corona infection. 27 percent of all ventilated patients suffer from kidney failure. Some of the viruses are found in the kidneys and can also multiply there. The liver and digestive system can also be affected.

A quarter of those infected also suffered from diarrhea. Because our colon is very sensitive and a gateway for viruses.

Long-Covid: symptoms and duration

Every infection is as individual as every body is. Some suffer severely and for a long time, others do not even feel that they are carrying the virus. An estimated 40 percent of those infected have such an asymptomatic course. But a full ten percent are not off after a few days: they suffer from Long Covid.

The most common long-Covid symptoms include:

• exhaustion (58 percent)
• Headache (44 percent)
• Difficulty concentrating (27 percent)
• hair loss (25 percent)
• shortness of breath (24 percent)
• Loss of smell and taste (23 percent)

With long-Covid, symptoms can still appear weeks after infection. A fifth of all those infected were still affected after more than a year. And the longer the symptoms last, the less likely it is that they will go away on their own. The exact effects and late effects are quite unexplored. Therefore, anyone suffering from symptoms longer than average should immediately to the doctor walk.