Organ damage even after a mild corona course - study from Hamburg astonished

Created: 01/07/2022, 2:15 pm

By: Christina Rosenberger

The corona pandemic is in constant flux - research is working at full speed to find out about the virus.

Now there are new results.

Even a mild course of a corona infection can cause lasting damage to organs - this is the conclusion that researchers from Hamburg have now come to.

In the “Hamburg City Health Study” (HCHS), the institute examined 443 people with only mild symptoms after a corona infection.

The results are shocking, as

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Because the corona pandemic is still on the advance - the numbers in Baden-Württemberg * and all of Germany are rising again and the particularly contagious Covid-19 variant Omikron * is now the dominant one in Germany - the number of Omikron is also increasing in the southwest -Infections * are currently strong.

Corona: Organ damage even after a mild course - can a vaccination help?

Experts from research and politics warn against this mutation in particular - because previous vaccines are less effective against this virus variant.

This is why some manufacturers have already announced that they are working on vaccines specially adapted to Omikron * - including Moderna, Biontech and Novavax *.

Prof. Raphael Twerenbold, head of the University Heart and Vascular Center at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), also warns against Omikron. Together with the first author of the study, the epidemiologist Elina Petersen, he explained: “The knowledge that even a mild course of the disease can lead to damage to various organs in the medium term is extremely important, especially with regard to the current Omicron variant, the majority with milder ones Symptoms seem to go hand in hand. "

But it is not yet certain whether the vaccinations will even help against the consequential damage of a corona disease.

Twerenbold said to the

: “We hope so, but we cannot prove it in the end.” Because none of the study participants were vaccinated because they had tested positive for the corona virus between March and December 2020.

At that time, the vaccines weren't on the market.

Corona: Organ damage after a mild course - the heart, lungs and kidneys suffer so severely

In total, the test group in the "Hamburg City Health Study" consisted of 443 people aged 45 to 74 who were sick with Corona - 93 percent of them were treated purely on an outpatient basis, none had to be treated in a hospital intensive care unit.

The most important findings from this study: Compared to a control group of people not suffering from Covid 19, the heart pumping power of those infected with mild courses decreased by one to two percent and the lung volume was reduced by around three percent.

Organ damage is also possible after a mild corona infection.

(Symbol picture) © Sebastian Gollnow / dpa

In addition, according to Twerenbold, signs of previous leg vein thromboses were discovered two to three times more often in those infected with corona than in the comparison group.

With such thromboses, the risk of a pulmonary embolism, i.e. an infarction of the lungs, is increased.

In addition, kidney function decreased by around two percent in the corona patients examined with supposedly mild symptoms.

Corona: Organ damage even after a mild course - also affecting the brain?

After all: the performance of the brain did not seem to have shown any deterioration in comparison to the control group. But despite the terrifying results, the expert warns against scare tactics. Instead, he recommends all those who have recovered from Corona to have their kidney and heart values ​​checked by their family doctor six to nine months after the infection, in order to rule out that the organs could suffer serious consequential damage.

The co-author of the “Hamburg City Health Study” Stefan Blankenberg also agrees.

He told the taz that even supposedly minor damage to organs could become dangerous over time.

"Even if they go unnoticed, in ten or twenty years the health of these organs can be reduced," says Blankenberg.

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