Aging faster due to Covid-19? Doctors with a strange thesis

2020-08-17T07:52:01.053Z

Initial study results on the long-term effects of Covid-19 give cause for concern. German researchers suspect that the disease could even age faster.

Weakened lungs * and heart problems * long after the coronavirus infection has been overcome: According to the current state of knowledge, even mild Covid-19 courses can have long-term negative effects on health.
Doctors are discussing inflammatory reactions in the body that are triggered by Covid-19 as the main reason.
A study is currently underway at the Schleswig-Holstein University Medical Center in Kiel that is intensively looking at the long-term consequences of Covid-19. One assumption by the researchers: an infection with Covid-19 could cause the body to age much faster .

Covid-19 is a relatively "young" disease: The first cases were known in China in December 2019, since then the coronavirus has spread worldwide. Symptoms range from cough, fever, loss of taste to shortness of breath. In some people, Covid-19 runs like a normal cold, others have to be treated in a clinic. Pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure as well as smoking increase the risk of a severe course - doctors can agree on these findings. With regard to the long-term consequences, doctors around the world are still largely groping in the dark .

Various studies deal with the question of what long-term consequences the coronavirus can trigger in the human body. There is also a large-scale study at the Schleswig-Holstein University Medical Center in Kiel entitled “Covidom”: This examines the long-term damage that can occur after a Covid 19 illness. In an interview, study author and internist Stefan Schreiber, as the head of the Clinic for Internal Medicine at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, speaks of a possible faster aging process due to coronavirus infections .

Heart and lung damage: does Covid-19 cause organs to age faster?

Internist Schreiber reckons that previously infected people will have to reckon with long-term effects for a decade after the illness: “In addition to the specific consequences of the disease, the virus also accelerates the aging processes of the internal organs unnoticed. A 30-year-old who gets the infection now could have the lungs or heart of a 40-year-old in two years - or in ten years the lungs or heart of a 60-year-old ", so his suspicion. In an interview with Welt.de He warns that this effect could not only occur in the seriously ill, but also in people who only showed mild Covid 19 symptoms.

Stefan Schreiber, who researches chronic inflammation, sees the problem in the inflammatory reactions in the body triggered by Covid-19. “The signaling substance profile of this so-called cytokine storm looks like cell aging in fast motion. For example, there are substances like tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-6. Both have already been detected in increased concentrations in the endothelia of aging rodents. But the concentrations during the infection are many times higher, ”said the doctor. The Covidom study is now examining how exactly Covid-19 influences the aging process in humans and which treatment options are promising. (jg) * Merkur.de belongs to the Germany-wide Ippen-Digital editorial network .

More sources: https://www.precisionmedicine.de/de/