At the moment, scientists are still uncovering the different health effects caused by COVID-19. However, we do know that COVID-19 makes it difficult for patients to breathe because it breaks down the mucus lining along the respiratory tract making it difficult to breath. The cells of our body struggle to get oxygen through the bloodstream which results in poor energy production in cells causing them to die off. In the image to the left, the yellow represents blocked airways. The image shows a lot of yellow which would mean that it is difficult for the body to retain oxygen.

Scientists are uncovering more long-term effects of COVID-19 every day. Some people have a permanent loss of smelling, others have a change in smelling but most common are respiratory disorders.

Some long-term effects include:

• ARDS – acute respiratory distress syndrome → makes it difficult to breathe by yourself
• Pneumoniae – filled with fluid and inflamed → difficulty breathing
• Infection and sepsis – damages to lung spread through blood stream

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.