New study: "Long-term COVID" can cause abnormalities in major organs

People who have suffered longer from COVID-19 – the disease caused by the coronavirus – are more likely to experience organ damage, a new study has shown.

Medical scans have shown that this category of patients has a threefold increased chance of facing abnormalities in the lungs, brain and kidneys.

The researchers believe that there is a connection with the long duration of the illness.

There are hopes that this study, published in the scientific journal Lancet, will help create more effective treatments for what is known as "long-term COVID".

For the purposes of the study, 259 patients were analyzed, who fell ill with the coronavirus and were then hospitalized.

Five months after being released from the hospital, scans have shown that significant differences have been observed in their main organs, compared to a group of 52 people who have never been infected with the coronavirus.

The biggest difference was seen in the lungs, where scans showed 14 times more chance of abnormalities.

Professor Betty Raman from the University of Oxford, and one of the study's researchers, said it was clear that patients with "long-term COVID" symptoms were more likely to experience organ damage.

"The patient's age, the degree of illness with COVID, as well as the fact if they had any other disease, were important factors for identifying damage to these important organs of the body," she said.

The new coronavirus was first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China.

The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus as a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

More than 6.9 million people have died since the outbreak of the pandemic worldwide.

The United States has recorded the highest number of victims, followed by India and Brazil.