COVID-19 can have long-term effects on lungs, heart

For some individuals with COVID-19, recovering from the acute phase of the infection is only the beginning, John Swartzberg warns.

Worrying reports now indicate that the coronarvirus may be capable of inflicting long-lasting damage to the lungs, heart, and nervous system, and researchers are closely watching to see if the kidneys, liver, and gastrointestinal tract may be susceptible to persistent damage as well.

Some patients also report symptoms that remain weeks, even months, after becoming infected, leading some to suspect that the virus may be able to spark conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome.

“In the beginning, our model for understanding this infection was to treat it like another respiratory virus like influenza,” says Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology in the University of California, Berkeley-UC San Francisco Joint Medical Program.

“I think one of the most unfortunate and interesting things about this virus is that its interaction with us is actually far more complicated than that.”

Here, Swartzberg explains what we know about the virus’s potential to inflict long-term damage to the body and how patients can lessen their risk of complications. He also cautions, however, that after only about six months of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it’s too early to say if any persistent effects are chronic or long-term, or if we’ve identified all the possible long-term impacts:

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