Corona Patients Should Be Beware of Long Covid

BANDAR LAMPUNG (Lampost.co) – The Long Covid phenomenon is currently a concern for many people, it is adding to the series of public worries because Covid-19 has never ended in Indonesia.

In the Covid-19 Handling Task Force’s virtual dialogue entitled “Beware of the Long-Term Effects of Covid-19”, there is the latest WHO report on the Long-Term Effects of Covid-19 which states that Covid-19 can cause prolonged illness for some people. This is what is called the ‘Long Covid’ phenomenon.

Chairman of the Indonesian Lung Doctors Association Agus Dwi Susanto explained, this phenomenon is a new term for Post Covid Syndrome which was previously used by health experts to describe the situation or condition of a patient experiencing other symptoms after recovering from Covid-19.

“This is an old term, but then along with its development, WHO was finally introduced to it with Long Covid. This can be interpreted as a symptom condition that appears in patients who have recovered from Covid-19,” he said, Thursday (3/12 / 2020).

He continued, these symptoms can appear for months and remain in the bodies of survivors or people who have recovered from Covid-19. Regarding the symptoms, it can vary, starting from the most being chronic fatigue symptoms.

“Coupled with the symptoms of shortness of breath, heavy breathing, and heart palpitations are also related to the heart. Then joint pain, muscle pain, including psychological disorders such as depression,” he said.

Although this can happen, Agus emphasized that Long Covid is not a virus left in the body of a Covid-19 survivor. Long Covid, is a sequela that appears after a person is declared cured of Covid-19, then it can occur due to abnormalities that exist when sick.

“There are examples of patients whose lungs have stiffness in the lung tissue which can persist for 2-3 months. This is what causes oxygen to not be able to enter, then the patient becomes breathing heavily, has shortness of breath and can be detected from the pulmonary function test,” he said.

In addition, Agus also said that actually anyone can be exposed to Long Covid, so all survivors need to be vigilant. The most vulnerable groups are comorbid patients, elderly patients, and patients with smoking habits.

“However, it does not rule out that anyone can be affected. Some reports have added that people who do not have comorbids can get Long Covid as well. So there are indeed some things that we cannot know in some populations, anything can happen,” he explained.

EDITOR

Ricky Marly

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