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What Are the Specific Effects of Coronavirus on the Body?

Rafael Maga?a

Senior Director Of Development - Corporate Partnerships, Major Gifts, & Planned Giving

发布日期: 2020年3月20日

The symptoms of the coronavirus (COVID-19), including cough, fever, and shortness of breath, are very similar to other common diseases such as the seasonal flu and the common cold. While the disease is still fairly new and researchers and experts in the medical industry are still learning about the nature of the virus and developing a vaccine, there are certain aspects that we do know.

How COVID-19 Infects the Body

The COVID-19 virus spreads through particles that either travel through the air from sneezing or coughing, or are left on various surfaces. People can then either breathe these particles in through the nose or mouth when airborne, or transfer particles by touching contaminated surfaces and touching their face or an open wound.

COVID-19 particles travel to the nasal passages along with the throat's mucous membranes, where they attach to specific receptors in the cell like a key to a lock.

One defining feature of the coronavirus is the spiked proteins on its particles, which stick out from the surface of the particles and pierce human cells to spread the infection.

How the Coronavirus Impacts the Respiratory System

As the virus spreads throughout the body, mainly via the lungs from the throat and nasal passage, the virus attacks nearby cells. As a result, symptoms of COVID-19 can begin with a dry cough and a mild sore throat.

The virus then makes its way down the victim's bronchial tubes until it reaches the lungs, where mucous membranes become inflamed. The ensuing inflammation can cause mild to extensive damage of the lung's sacs, or alveoli, as they struggle to supply sufficient oxygen to the blood in our circulatory system, enabling us to exhale carbon dioxide.

With the increased swelling and "suffocating" alveoli, the lungs can fill with dead cells, pus, and liquid. As a result, the lungs can develop an infection known as pneumonia. In the event of pneumonia, patients may need the assistance of a ventilator to breathe properly, but extreme cases can entail the lungs becoming so full of fluid that no device can help, a potentially fatal condition known as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

The Pathology of COVID-19 Throughout the Lungs

Dr. Shu-Yuan Xiao is one of the foremost experts of the virus, working as the director of the Cente for Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics at Wuhan University and as a pathology professor at the University of Chicago School of Medicine. According to Dr. Xiao, the virus begins to spread around the edges of the sides of the lung and takes some time to spread to the upper respiratory tract, along with other primary airways such as the trachea.

The unusual pathology of the virus helps explain why the earliest cases in China's Hubei province, including the city of Wuhan, took longer to identify than other respiratory illnesses. Some of the first tests didn't seek or detect infection in the peripheral areas of the lungs, which enabled some patients to return home undiagnosed and untreated.

Unfortunately, COVID-19's ability to evade detection early on has resulted in normal CT scans for many patients in the early stages of infection. However, over time, CT scans can reveal a certain haziness in scans known as "ground glass opacities," which appear with many other types of respiratory illnesses. As the diseases progress, opacities can thicken.

How the Virus Spreads Beyond the Lungs

COVID-19 isn't limited to the lungs in many cases. It can actually spread all the way from the nose to a person's rectal area, according to Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, who serves as the Providence Health System's chief clinical officer.

While symptoms such as diarrhea and indigestion are rare in coronavirus victims, the ability for COVID-19 to attack the gastrointestinal system would explain these symptoms.

The virus has the potential of spreading to the bloodstream and other organs, causing inflammation in the bone marrow, liver, kidneys, and other areas. In some cases, the body's immune system may also work to fight the illness as it infects various organs, resulting in further complications.

It's still unclear whether the virus affects the nervous system, but other coronaviruses such as SARS have been found to spread to the brain, so it's possible that COVID-19 might also impact nerve cells.

People Who Are More At Risk of Serious Illness with COVID-19

Some people are more vulnerable to complications resulting from the infection than others. If you have any underlying health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, or other illnesses that could leave your immune system compromised, this gives COVID-19 a better chance of causing severe symptoms or even death in extreme cases. People who are over the age of 65 are also more at risk because of underlying conditions or generally weakened immune systems.

Otherwise, young and healthy people typically don't require much time or treatment to recover from the disease.

Ultimately, scientists are still working to understand more about the nature of the virus and how it affects different people. COVID-19 appears to mainly infect the lungs, but it can spread to other parts of the body in some cases and cause mild to extensive damage to various systems. As experts have more time to test and compare cases, and researchers develop a vaccine along with antiviral treatments for the disease, the general public will be able to gain a better understanding of how the virus works.