Turns out, covid-19 is a metabolic disease that affects multiple organs

In a recent study, scientists have developed a predictive metabolic model for covid-19 infection that shows the effects of the disease on multiple organs.
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Coronavirus leads to various medical complications. Image courtesy: Shutterstock
PTI Updated: 13 Oct 2023, 05:11 pm IST
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We get to hear something new about coronavirus every day–then be it about its progression, vaccine development or new symptoms. After all, most of the world right now trying to understand this new virus better, giving birth to a plethora of research endeavours. 

Recently, researchers from Murdoch University in Australia and the University of Cambridge in the UK collected blood plasma specimens from a group of covid-19 positive patients. Then they matched them with the samples of a control group of healthy age and body mass matched participants to determine the key metabolic differences between the groups.

Also, read: Moderna vaccine can produce immune response against coronavirus, says study

The study revealed that…
The collected samples revealed a profound biological fingerprint of the disease that includes elements of liver dysfunction, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, and coronary heart disease risk. These have been found to be related to the long-term effects in patients that were affected by the original SARS virus, the researchers said.

“Perhaps the most important observation is that the disease involves multiple organs and the majority of the patients show signs of newly presenting diabetes and liver damage irrespective of the severity of the lung symptoms,” said Professor Jeremy Nicholson from Murdoch University.

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The war is not over till its actually over! Image Courtesy: Shutterstock

Nicholson further added: “Many of the metabolic features that we pick up are not part of routine clinical chemical testing, and this has immediate patient management implications because these morbidities might be occurring under the radar of the current testing paradigms as they can be quite subtle.”

The researchers said these emergent pathologies need to be managed at the same time as the acute respiratory problems to optimise patient recovery.

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“What we do not know is how persistent these symptoms are or whether they change long terms disease risks for recovered patients,” Nicholson said.

While the scientists and the world still don’t have a clear picture of coronavirus, these findings could be beneficial in our understanding about the virus and in turn defeating the pandemic.

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