HUMBLE, Texas - Aug. 16, 2020 -With the death rate just above 5.5%, the novel Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has shaken the world. The Coronavirus is a spectral virus with mild to deadly symptoms that can happen to any age group and gender. Specifically, advanced age and the male sex are more prone to an increase of severity in infection. To find a cure, researchers are frantically trying to create various vaccine formulas in hopes of boosting our immunity to the virus. Subsequently there is little research on the symptoms that may arise with COVID-19. However, there are two common bodily responses that arise with severe COVID patients: lung injury and cardiac damage.
Preliminary research indicates that patients who were infected (both mild and severe cases) most commonly have compromised respiratory systems. This means that the lungs have to work overtime as the virus continues to harm the lungs. Fundamentally, the lungs reoxygenate the blood while the heart helps pass blood all along to the body. Clearly this creates an issue when a patient has the Coronavirus. An infected pair of lungs makes the heart work inefficiently by passing poorly oxygenated blood through the body (possibly harming other systems). Our bodies imitate a domino effect, each body system reacts with another - when one system is harmed it can also prevent the others from working as efficiently.
Now, let's focus on the heart. COVID-19's impact on the heart has 3 main effects that lead to cardiac damage: arrhythmias, heart failure, and pulmonary embolisms. These three complications arise in two main ways. The first method comes from a heart condition that was previously silent and undiagnosed. This is believed to occur because the virus triggers various safety measures in the body to best attack the virus - potentially revealing the heart condition.
The second method is through pre-existing issues that worsen with interaction from the virus. As the body compensates for the infection, the heart muscle can develop severe inflammation that prevents the heart from efficiently working. Consequently, this leads to grim consequences when dealing with a severe patient. Arrhythmias are different in every case as possible remedies may be simple lifestyle changes all the way to a pacemaker, defibrillator, or even death. Heart failure, as found through infected patient analysis, is less common but can be quite severe if it happens.
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