Coronavirus COVID-19

COVID-19 also called coronavirus, is a potentially severe and acute respiratory infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Coronavirus infection can block the pulmonary artery and its branches with blood clots. The virus can affect various organs and systems but most often causes lung inflammation. One of the most dangerous complications is viral pneumonia, which can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome and respiratory failure.

According to statistics, over 160 million cases of COVID-19 were registered in the spring of 2021, with more than three million deaths. A severe course is more common in the elderly and patients with chronic pathologies.

The incubation period averages from a few days to two weeks. In most patients, the clinical picture develops on the sixth or seventh day after infection. The most common symptoms include fever, dry cough, fatigue, and loss of taste and smell.

Infectious disease is often mild or asymptomatic. However, in severe cases, there is shortness of breath and shortness of breath, pain, and discomfort in the chest, a feeling of squeezing in it.

Clinical variants of the course of the disease are divided as follows:

• mild and moderate course, accompanied by mild inflammation in the lungs;
• severe with difficulty breathing and hypoxia;
• critical – accompanied by respiratory failure, shock, and dysfunction of various organs and systems.

Reasons for the development of COVID-19

The cause of a viral infection is the penetration of a pathogen into the human body – an RNA-containing beta-coronavirus SARS-CoV2. Infection occurs from a sick person or close contact with an asymptomatic virus carrier.

The virus enters the human body through airborne droplets or the fecal-oral route. In addition, there is evidence of the transmission of a viral infection between humans and animals.

In terms of risk factors for a severe course of the disease, these include:

• age over 65 years;
• diseases of the cardiovascular system;
• diabetes;
• chronic respiratory diseases;
• malignant neoplasms;
• kidney pathology;
• excess weight;
• sickle cell anemia;
• pregnancy;
• being on a medical team.

COVID-19 treatment

Treatment of COVID-19, in most cases, is carried out on an outpatient basis. Hospitalization is carried out with a severe course of the disease, the patient’s advanced age, chronic pathologies, and high risks of complications.

When choosing a treatment strategy, a specialist considers all the features of the course of the disease, the results of diagnostic studies, the symptoms present, and the general well-being of the patient.

Patients with a mild coronavirus infection recover within 10-14 days; with a severe disease course, recovery occurs within several months or more.

Treatment aims to eliminate symptomatic manifestations and prevent or eliminate complications that have already developed.

In general, the treatment of coronavirus includes the use of the following means:

• inhibitors of viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases;
• interferon inducers;
• antiviral agents;
• antibiotics (used when combining bacterial microflora);
• anticoagulants;

in severe patients, glucocorticosteroids are used;

• antipyretic drugs;
• mucolytics;
• nasal decongestants, etc.

For symptoms of respiratory failure, oxygen therapy, tracheal intubation, and invasive ventilation are used.

Rehabilitation

COVID-19 is a rather insidious and little-studied disease that can occur both in a mild form and with bilateral inflammation of the lungs and subsequent mechanical ventilation. But even after a mild form of the disease, many patients complain of long-lasting unpleasant symptoms that significantly impair their quality of life and prevent them from returning to their usual way of life.

Especially after COVID-19, the respiratory organs, heart, and blood vessels suffer. Often, patients feel shortness of breath, increased heart rate, and heart rhythm disorders. There may also be a weakness in the body, dizziness, and any, even minor, physical activity is poorly tolerated. In particular, it is difficult for a person to climb stairs, which applies to older and young patients.

For complete body recovery after a coronavirus infection, efficient rehabilitation is required.

The applied methods of rehabilitation treatment based on Kliniken Schmieder aim to improve lung function and ensure sufficient oxygen supply.

The main goal of rehabilitation is to stabilize the physical condition, restore breathing, eliminate the stress and anxiety transferred against the background of the disease, relieve muscle weakness, and improve performance.

At Kliniken Schmieder, a rehabilitation program is developed individually for each patient.

We have a comprehensive post-COVID-19 rehabilitation program; you can read more about it here.