CHAPTER 7
How does Covid affect the organs longterm?
A
cute SARS-CoV-2 infection may result in short or long-term damage to critical organs. This section will include organ damage as a feature of Long Covid in order to acknowledge the lasting disability that can occur.
For treatment and reimbursement purposes, as long as there is clear and specific organ damage, the condition will not be classified as Long Covid but rather injury to that specific organ (e.g. kidney disease, not Long Covid kidney disease). Long Covid is a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning there is no other clear medical evidence such as measurable damage to a specific organ or tissue. Patients will be diagnosed with Long Covid for the purpose of medical treatment only if the underlying cause of the symptoms cannot be directly pinpointed. 98 Can acute SARS-CoV-2 infection cause long-term lung damage?
SARS-CoV-2 infection can affect the lungs, causing complications such as pneumonia, sepsis (infection that spreads through the bloodstream), and bronchitis. It can take months to a year for the lungs to recover to pre-Covid levels. 99 This is especially true for Recognizing the Clinical Sequelae of COVID-19 in Adults: COVID-19 LongHaulers - PMC 99 COVID-19 Lung Damage | Johns Hopkins Medicine 98
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