According to domestic media quoted by the US media, a study in the United States said that the new crown virus can spread to the heart and brain of patients within a few days after infection and survive in the organs for several months, and this new study can help explain the so-called "long-term sequelae of the new crown" (long COVID).
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland reportedly studied the organizations of 44 people who died of COVID-19 in the first year of the outbreak in the United States.
They allegedly detected the coronavirus in all parts of the body, including the heart and brain, for up to 230 days after the onset of symptoms. This delayed virus clearance is thought to be a possible cause of the long-term sequelae of covid-19. The study is under review by independent scientists and is ready for publication in the journal Nature.
The results of the study show that if the virus is not cleared in time, patients are likely to lead to long-term sequelae of the new crown. Understanding the mechanisms by which the virus persists, as well as how the body responds to the virus reservoir, is expected to help improve COVID-19 treatment, the report's authors said.
Al Ali, director of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology at the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Health System in St. Louis, Missouri, told reporters: "This is a very important job. ”
Al Ali said: "For a long time, we have not been able to figure out why the long-term sequelae of COVID-19 affect so many organ systems. The paper provides some clues and may help explain why people with even mild or asymptomatic acute illness develop long-term sequelae of COVID-19. ”
The research team led by Daniel Cherto, head of the Department of Emerging Pathogens at the National Institutes of Health, said: "Our findings suggest that although the main organs affected by the new coronavirus are in the respiratory tract and lungs, the virus can spread early in infection and infect cells throughout the body, including the brain. ”
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health say infections in the lung system may lead to an early stage of "viremia," in which the new coronavirus is present in the bloodstream throughout the body.
The new coronavirus was detected in the brains of six patients who died more than a month after developing symptoms, and most of the brains of another 5 patients, one of whom died 230 days after developing symptoms, the study said.
Al Ali says that attention to multiple areas of the brain is particularly helpful. He told reporters: "We need to start thinking of the new crown virus as a virus that can affect the whole body, which may be cleared in some people, but may last for weeks or months in others, and have long-term sequelae of the new crown." ”
EDIT: DXY
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Proofreader: Mou Yuankai