The COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate the world, with the death toll quickly piling up. By now, most of us are educated on prevention measures (which include social distancing, proper hand hygiene, and regularly disinfecting surfaces) and can thoroughly identify the symptoms (fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, loss of sense of smell). However, there is still a lot of confusion as to exactly what happens inside of our bodies once the highly infectious and potentially deadly virus enters—and how it can completely ravage the lungs to the point of death. Eat This, Not That Health spoke to Naftali Kaminski, MD, Boehringer-Ingelheim Endowed Professor of Internal Medicine, Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Department of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine who explains exactly what happens to your lungs on coronavirus via a helpful diagram illustrated by Dr. Arnaud Marlier, Ph.D., an associate Research Scientist in Neurosurgery, Yale School of Medicine. Read on, and to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had Coronavirus1 These Are Your Lungs This is what a healthy respiratory system looks like. 2 This is What Happens When You Breathe in AirAnd, this is how you breathe in air with a healthy respiratory system with the help of alveoli, whose primary purpose is to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules to and from the bloodstream.3 The Virus Enters the BodyThen, COVID-19 comes along. "Most of COVID-19 infections occur through the nose and mouth, many of the infected people have mild or no symptoms, but the virus is in the airways and spread by them," Dr. Kaminski explains. 4 Mild Disease Can OccurAccording to research, 80 percent of COVID-19 cases are mild. Some people are asymptomatic, while others might experience a variety of symptoms—including dry cough, fever, shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of sense of smell or taste, gastrointestinal issues, or even pink eye. 5 A Severe Infection Can OccurUnfortunately, 15 percent of COVID-19 patients experience a severe infection. "Severe presentation is often characterized by inflammation of the lung, with inflammatory cells infiltrating the lung and fluid accumulation, that causes shortness of breath," says Dr. Kaminski. In these cases, recovery is delayed, as the body continues to fight the serious infection and struggles for oxygen. 6 Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) Can OccurApproximately five percent of cases of COVID-19 are critical with a serious risk of death. "In the most severe presentation, the patient develops acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), in which the airspaces (alveoli) are full with fluids and inflammatory cells, and the native lining is dying," explains Dr. Kaminski. As you can see, there is very little oxygen available for breathing. "This situation requires mechanical ventilation."7 How to Treat the VirusThe main issue with COVID-19, other than the fact that we currently have no vaccination against it, is that killing the virus is hard, "because we do not have a specific drug, only candidates," explains Dr. Kaminski. Therefore, approaches to fight it involve prevention of infection, "easiest by isolation and protection," as well as protecting the lung ("helping lung cells recover"), and inhibiting inflammation, which is "used frequently, and maybe effective but complicated because some inflammation is needed to fight infection," he explains. If you feel anything like what was described here, or any of the most common symptoms, contact a medical professional immediately to see if you have coronavirus. And to get through this pandemic at your healthiest, don't miss these 35 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID.
