Long Term Effects of Coronavirus Infection and COVID Vaccine

The long-term effects of coronavirus infection vary from one individual to another. Find whether you are at risk and preventive measures.  

What Are the Long-Term Side Effects of Coronavirus Infection? 

A long-term effect is something that lasts for more than a year. It’s been more than a year since the coronavirus pandemic started and studies have come up with several significant and insignificant side effects of coronavirus. Here is the list of the most significant effects of coronavirus infection. 

#What Is Long COVID?

Individuals who are exposed to the virus post recovery from the coronavirus infection are susceptible to long COVID irrespective of their vaccination status. Recent studies have proved long COVID’s or relapsed COVID infections as a new threat to the world. 

Long COVID’s can develop without exhibiting symptoms of any sort and can result in immediate death if they were to get severe.

# Brain Fog Post COVID Infection

Though brain fog isn’t a medical condition it can impact the quality of life in affected individuals. Brain fogs can last anywhere from 3 months to a year while a certain minority have reported experiencing it for more than a year. Depression and stress are also serious side effects of COVID.

#Can Coronavirus Infection Cause Hairfall?

Yes, hair fall has become the primary symptom for any new disease in the 21st century and the coronavirus infection is no exception. Several infected individuals across the world have experienced extensive hair loss a few months after recovery. Though there is no data about regrowth as of now, severe hair shedding has caused further stress in many young people. 

#Organ and Blood Vessel Damage

Since the virus tends to travel to the lungs or other vital organs such as the heart and the brain after 7 days of infection, individuals who took more than a month for complete recovery are currently experiencing the following:

• High risk of heart failure/stroke/ other heart-related complications.
• Pneumonia or long-term breathing problems such as bronchitis or asthma due to scar tissues in the lung.
• Guillain-Barre syndrome (short-term paralysis), stroke, and seizures.
• Young adults who were infected severely have shown symptoms of early-onset Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.  
• Large blood clots near the kidney and liver have also become a cause of concern. 

#Immune Abnormalities

While the above-listed abnormalities are significant they cannot be passed on to the next generation but immune abnormalities can alter the DNA structure. Thus, this long-term side effect can affect future generations as well. 

Though this recent Australian research has not been peer-reviewed or published at present, it has found serious altercations in the immune system of infected individuals six months post-infection.

The research studied 69 coronavirus survivors out of whom 47 suffered from mild infection. David Lynn, one of the lead investigators on the project shared that they found substantial dysregulation of immune cell numbers in the 130 immune cell samples tested by his team. 

The dysfunctional immune system has caused serious inflammation and can lead to significant diseases depending upon its function in the human body. 

A study published in the UK by author Dr. John Grainger from The University of Manchester and Deputy Director of the Lydia Becker Institute suggests the same. 

One factor that has puzzled both researchers was, the immune abnormalities were similar in all individuals affected by the coronavirus infection irrespective of its severity. Researchers are expecting more long-term side effects of the coronavirus infection to emerge in the upcoming years.

Side Effects of COVID Vaccines

While fever, muscle pain, nausea, diarrhea, chills, headache, and fatigue were experienced after being vaccinated, no study has established any markers that could result in a long-term side effect.