Covid virus can have long lasting effects on every organ of body: CDC

The latest CDC guidance for certifying deaths due to Covid-19 suggests that the virus can have lasting effects on nearly every organ and system of the body for weeks, months, and potentially years after infection. While the acute phase of the disease can result in varying degrees of clinical manifestations and complications, including death, patients who recover from the acute phase may still experience long-term effects, known as “long Covid.”

The updated CDC guidance now includes serious after effects of the disease as cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, renal, endocrine, hematological, and gastrointestinal complications, as well as death. Even if the original infection occurred months or years before death, the certifier may consider the possibility that the death was due to long-term complications of the pandemic for those who had a previous SARSCoV-2 infection and were diagnosed with a post-Covid condition.

While pre-existing chronic conditions such as COPD or asthma do not cause Covid-19, they can increase the risk of contracting a respiratory infection and death, according to the CDC guidance. Survival from Covid-19 can be complicated by such medical conditions, especially those that result in diminished lung capacity.

Recent research from the University of Waterloo in Canada suggests that the after effects include reduced brain oxygen levels, poor cognitive test performance, and increased psychiatric symptoms such as depression.

“For decedents, who had a previous SARSCoV-2 infection and were diagnosed with a post-Covid condition, the certifier may consider the possibility that the death was due to long-term complications of Covid-19, even if the original infection occurred months or years before death,” according to the updated Vital Statistics Reporting Guidance.

Patients who had Covid-19 disease could be at increased risk of suffering chest pain in the six months to a year after the infection, finds a study, signalling a future risk of heart diseases.

However, the study did not report major events like heart attack or stroke in such patients.

While currently, “the symptoms aren’t necessarily translating into hard outcomes”, it needs to be “reassessed over time”, said Heidi T. May, cardiovascular epidemiologist at Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City in the US and principal investigator of the study.

“It could be that lasting effects of infection on the cardiovascular system are hard to quantify in terms of diagnoses or other events in the short-term and won’t be realised until longer follow up,” she added.