Written By: Satata Karmakar | Published : November 5, 2020 12:55 PM IST
Coronavirus: Here's why COVID-19 patients are suffering from breathing issues.
In what could explain why some patients suffer from long coronavirus-induced lung problems, a new investigation of deceased patients has shed light on possible lung damage caused by the novel coronavirus.
The study revealed that the unique characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and may explain why patients suffer from 'long COVID' and experience the effects of the disease for months with a feeling of fatigue and lack of breath.
To dig deeper, researchers led by King's College London analysed the organs of 41 patients who died of COVID-19 at the University Hospital of Trieste, Italy.
The team took lung, heart, liver, and kidney samples to examine the behaviour of the virus.
The findings showed extensive lung damage in most cases, with patients experiencing profound disruption of the normal lung structure and the transformation of respiratory tissue into fibrotic material.
Almost 90 per cent of patients showed two additional characteristics that were quite unique to COVID-19 compared to other forms of pneumonia.
First, patients showed extensive blood clotting of the lung arteries and veins (thrombosis).
Second, several lung cells were abnormally large and had many nuclei, resulting from the fusion of different cells into single large cells.
This formation of fused cells (syncytia) is due to the viral spike protein, which the virus uses to enter the cell.
Talking about how the virus affects the lungs, the research revealed that when the protein is present on the surface of cells infected by the COVID-19 virus, it stimulates their fusion with other normal lung cells, which can be a cause for inflammation and thrombosis.
Additionally, research showed the long-term persistence of the viral genome in respiratory cells and in cells lining the blood vessels, along with the infected cell syncytia.
The presence of these infected cells can cause the major structural changes observed in the lungs, which can persist for several weeks or months and could eventually explain 'long Covid'.
The study found no overt signs of viral infection or prolonged inflammation detected in other organs.
Talking about the findings of the study, Professor Mauro Giacca from the British Heart Foundation Centre at King's College London said that, the results indicate that coronavirus or COVID-19 is not simply a disease caused by the death of virus-infected cells but is likely the consequence of these abnormal cells persisting for long periods inside the lungs.
The team is now actively testing the effect of these abnormal cells on blood clotting and inflammation and is searching for new drugs that can block the viral spike protein which causes cells to fuse.
India's Covid-19 tally climbed to 83.64 lakh with 50,210 new cases in a day, while 77,11,809 people have recuperated so far, pushing the national recovery rate to 92.20 per cent.
The total coronavirus cases mounted to 83,64,086 and the death toll climbed to 1,24,315, with the virus claiming 704 lives in a span of 24 hours in the country, the data updated at 8 a.m. showed.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate was recorded at 1.49%. There are 5,27,962 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 6.31% of the total caseload, the data stated.
(With inputs from Agencies)
