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Covid-19 patients could suffer health effects for years after healing

By Verah Okeyo August 11th, 2020 3 min read

Patients recovering from Covid-19 will experience chronic problems long after they are healed.

These include damage to the heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain. Other problems include fatigue, a racing heartbeat, laboured breathing, difficulty in concentrating, aching joints and the inability to smell.

The data that informed these conclusions came from hospitals in Italy, UK and the US but infectious diseases experts from the Aga Khan University Hospital told the Nation that “there is no reason to believe it will be different in Kenya”.

Prof Rodney Adam, who has been looking after severely sick Covid-19 patients at the Aga Khan Hospital, told the Nation that once healed, many patients complain of low exercise tolerance due to the damage meted on the lungs by the virus.

He said the patients also stay longer in the hospital before the oxygen levels in their bodies rise to a tolerable level.

“That is always an indication of how well their lungs are doing, but they may not be back to normal for months,” he said.