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Heart, lungs, liver: Covid-19 can affect many organs
Photo: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images
Covid-19 mainly attacks the lungs, this has been known since the beginning of the pandemic.
But other organs can also be affected by the virus: the brain, the heart, the kidneys - and also the liver, as researchers at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) have discovered.
A study with 1,200 Covid-19 patients was published in the journal "Nature Metabolism".
It was noticed again and again that people affected by Covid 19 sometimes had abnormal liver values.
The UKE has now investigated to what extent the virus is responsible for this.
In almost 60 percent of the patients examined, the liver values were significantly elevated when they were admitted to the hospital.
Only a few of them had previously been known to have liver diseases that could possibly be responsible.
In addition, an autopsy study was conducted with 45 people who died of Covid-19.
In two thirds of them, the pathogen could be detected in the liver, sometimes even as an active virus.
The investigations also showed that a Sars-CoV-2 infection can significantly change the cell programs in the liver and thus have an impact on the metabolism, similar to different forms of hepatitis, the study says.
"These results underline again how diverse the potential damage mechanisms are in Covid-19," said study leader Tobias Huber, director of the medical clinic and polyclinic at the UKE.
»It is to be feared that in the coming years and decades we will increasingly see Covid-19 complications in organs such as the liver and kidneys.«
Follow-up control of certain organs after infection
Scientists recently discovered that a Covid-19 infection can change the gray matter of the brain and decrease the size of the brain.
And previous studies had shown that a corona infection can leave long-term traces in the heart, blood vessels, lungs, kidneys and brain.
Experts therefore recommend that certain organs, such as the heart and kidneys, be checked six to nine months after infection.
In the case of specific complaints, the cause should be clarified earlier.
The liver is one of the largest human organs.
Among other things, it ensures that the body can absorb nutrients from food and converts toxins.
It plays a central role in all metabolic processes in the body.
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