Lungs & COVID: How to win the battle? 

COVID-19 and Lungs 

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an infectious disease first identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019.

Transmission of COVID-19 

• Small aerosols or droplets via coughing, sneezing, speaking, breathing during close contact within 1 metre, poor ventilation, crowded indoors

• Touching virus entry points (eyes, nose, mouth) after contact with contaminated surfaces 

Common symptoms of COVID-19 

• Sudden fever and cough OR 

• Sudden onset of TWO or more of the following: 

• Fever 

• Cough 

• Weakness or fatigue 

• Headache 

• Muscle ache and pain 

• Sore throat

• Difficulty breathing 

• Diarrhoea 

• Altered mental status 

• Coryza 

How does COVID-19 attack the lungs? 

COVID-19 viruses access host cells via an enzyme called angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which are largely found on the surface of alveolar cells of the lungs. COVID-19 infection can cause lasting lung damage and complications such as pneumonia. 

Three main factors in Coronavirus lung damage: 

1. COVID-19 infection severity 

• mild, moderate or severe 

2. Elderly (≥ 65 years old) or health problems 

• Elderly with weakened immune system and patients with multiple comorbidities such as diabetes, COPD, obesity are at higher risk of experiencing COVID-19 complications

3. COVID-19 treatment and timely support in the hospital 

Can patients recover from COVID-19? 

95% of healthy patients with mild symptoms can usually manage their symptoms at home, as their symptoms do not require hospitalisation. Symptoms will take 2 or 3 weeks to go away, as our immune system works to recover from infection. However, patients at higher risk of COVID-19 complications (i.e. older people, underlying medical conditions) will require special medical attention as their symptoms may last longer. 

Image Credit: Post Covid Syndrome 

COVID-19 Treatment and Prevention 

Recently, there’s been baseless information and rumours on social media about “miracle medications” for COVID-19. Proper public education and awareness are required to ensure proper and timely treatment and prevention for COVID-19. 

Table 1: Effectiveness of COVID-19 treatment and prevention 

Searching for validated online information: 

1. Search for reliable resources that have scientifically proven evidence. For example, official government or healthcare websites such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organisation (WHO), Healthline etc.

2. Assess and compare information with other resources to check for validity of the facts presented. You can look through the author’s affiliation, method of study, number of participants etc. to ensure reliability and quality of results. 

3. Seek professional medical advice for the best prevention and treatment for COVID-19. 

COVID-19 Vaccination 

Everyone should get vaccinated to achieve herd immunity in our community. The aim of vaccination is to prime the body, so that our immune system can respond quickly when exposed to the virus, reducing the duration of the virus to multiply and mutate in our body.

Now, all vaccine types are given booster doses. The mixing of different vaccines will also be allowed for booster doses.

Table 2:  When to receive booster dose? 

Image credit: Malaysiakini 

No vaccine is completely effective- some people may get reinfected with COVID-19 even after vaccination but the symptoms will become less severe. It is important to remember that the virus can still enter the lungs through entry points such as the eyes or nose as vaccination does not prevent viruses from entering their target sites in the respiratory tract. Frequent hand sanitisation and wearing a mask is still necessary even after vaccination. 

Image Credit: Booster dose 

Image Credit: Booster dose Infographic for Sinovac & Pfizer 

How do we maintain healthy lungs? 

Here are some tips to help ensure healthy lungs and body:

• Patients with health issues such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension, COPD or heart disease may have a higher risk of experiencing COVID-19 complications. It is important to minimise the chance of contracting virus, and ensure chronic health conditions are well managed with consistent monitoring and medication adherence. 

• Vaccination (refer to Table 2 above) 

• Proper nutrition and hydration by drinking lots of fluid (water, herbal tea) can help avoid COVID-19 complications. 

• Regular exercise 

• Ventilation of indoor spaces (i.e. open the windows at home) 

• When going outdoors, do ensure physical social distancing (at least 1 metre away), hand sanitisation

• Wearing well-fitting 3 ply surgical masks. Double masking (with cloth mask on top of medical grade mask) can reduce exposure to COVID-19. N95 is gold standard to seal your face and filter 95% particles, thus no doubling up is required. 

Image Credit: Time to Double Up 

A WORD FROM DOC2US

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Written by

Ms. Rosamund Koo Wei Xin