Scientists from the Netherlands and Belgium conducted a study and studied how patients recover from mild COVID-19. As reported on Thursday, January 7, “Moskovsky Komsomolets”, as a result, they suggested that the coronavirus could become a chronic disease.
According to scientists, complications can begin even weeks or months after recovery. At the same time, every third survivor of COVID-19 becomes “more or less dependent on outside care.”
Irina, a 39-year-old Muscovite, told Moskovsky Komsomolets that before she encountered the coronavirus, she considered herself a healthy person. She suffered the disease itself easily, but several months after her recovery, she was still suffering from its consequences. “It's been four months, but about a day later I vomit. I have lost 15 kilograms, have completely stopped eating meat, it smells awful, ”she said about the signs of a chronic disease she found.
Scientists studied the data of 1,837 people, whose average age was 47 years. All of them were treated on an outpatient basis, but complaints about the consequences of the coronavirus persisted for three months. It found that 98 percent of patients continued to experience fatigue, 90 percent suffered from muscle weakness, 88 percent experienced sleep problems, and 87 percent experienced pain. Many patients also noted that their work productivity has decreased. At the same time, 86 percent of the study participants clarified that they had no health problems before the illness – after the coronavirus suffered, their number dropped to 6 percent.
According to the researchers, these data indicate insufficient rehabilitation of patients who have undergone mild COVID-19, since existing programs are aimed at helping hospitalized patients. Scientists have suggested that those who suffer from the effects of coronavirus for 12 weeks or more should be considered chronic patients. They also noted that in the future, such patients may become a serious burden for world health, and concluded that they need special rehabilitation techniques.
Earlier it was reported that British and American scientists decided to launch a global study to study the long-term effects of the coronavirus on the human brain as well as the central nervous system (CNS). Scientists were concerned that COVID-19 could cause long-term damage to the brain and central nervous system several years after infection.
