How does COVID-19 make its way through our bodies? From our eyes to our livers, the virus can attack multiple organs, causing a domino effect of damage.
We know we can infect this viral disease through water droplets and contact with infected surfaces or body parts - but just how does it make its way down our systems.
Here’s the Journey of COVID-19 Inside the Human Body
First, the virus infects our throat. The coronavirus binds to cells in the throat, airways and lungs. It hijacks the healthy cells replication process to multiply and increase the infection.
- You first get dry cough and sore throat
- You develop a fever to create a hostile environment for the virus
- Muscle pain, fatigue and headaches are normal
- Reportedly, some patients lose their sense of smell
According to ICMR data, around 80 per cent of the cases are mild.
Next, the virus travels down to our lungs.
COVID-19 is a respiratory illness so the lungs are worst hit.
- The walls of the alveoli or the air sacs in our lungs may become inflamed,
- This reduces oxygen supply to the blood, making it hard to breathe.
- Patients may experience Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).
- Pneumonia or bronchitis may arise, but most people recover from this.
15 per cent of all COVID-19 cases are severe.
As the body becomes more infected, more organs are hit.
- Our immune system is hit. The natural response of our immune system to infection is to produce cytokines. When the disease is not defeated, we produce excess cytokines.
- This storm of cytokines causes other complications in the body - like dangerously high blood pressure, lung damage and organ failure
- The more time passes without recovery, the more damaged the lungs become. This means that less oxygen is going to other vital organs like the liver, kidney and brain (respiratory failure).
- Some COVIV-19 patients have strokes and seizures
About 5 per cent of the severe cases are critical where the patient requires ventilators or ICU admission.
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