Victorian coronavirus ‘survivors’ warn of long-term side effects
In a stark warning about the seriousness of the coronavirus, “recovered” Victorians have told of how they are still battling lasting headaches, lethargy, and mental stress months after their diagnosis.
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Survivors of COVID-19 are still suffering symptoms of the disease months after they were deemed to have recovered.
It comes as experts warn there is still little known about the long-term impacts of coronavirus.
In a stark warning about the seriousness of the virus, “recovered” Victorians have told of how they are still battling lasting headaches, lethargy, and mental stress months after their diagnosis.
They say they have been left wondering about their futures and fear for how the disease will impact them in years to come.
ANU infectious diseases expert, Professor Peter Collignon said it wasn’t uncommon with virus’ for a small group of people to be left with lasting effects.
He said while it was too soon to say what the long-term impacts of COVID-19 could be, this was often the case in patients who had battled influenza and golden staph infections.
“If you have a severe infection of any course, most people make a full recovery but some people will die and some have those lasting effects like fatigue,” Prof Collignon told the Herald Sun.
“Some people can have quite severe symptoms for weeks or months after, or secondary bacterial infections.
“But my expectation is that like most infections it will be a very small percentage.”
He said it would likely be aged-dependent and guessed younger people — who have overwhelmingly recovered better from the virus — would fair better than those in older age brackets, or who had underlying conditions.
“Those in their 20s have a low death rate and will probably have a low complication rate (as a result),” Prof Collignon said.
“You often see it takes many months for people to get back to normal even when, in medicine, we cant find an abnormality.
“The bottom line is we don't know the percentages but there will be some people who are left with underlying issues.
“But I don’t think any of us really know yet what that will be yet.”
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare last week released a preliminary look the
impacts of COVID-19, highlighting mental health as one of the biggest concerns.
They also found those who died from the disease lost up to 17 years off their expected lifespan.
AIHW Deputy CEO Matthew James said: ‘While the long-term health effects of COVID-19 are largely unknown at present, health data — in particular, linked data — will be critical to understanding its impact on health, society and the economy.”
VIRUS AFFECTS YOUNG AND OLD
Four months on, South Yarra local Samantha Demmler, 27, can still feel the effects of COVID-19 in her lungs.
She knows they’re weak and says she struggles with finding energy and motivation.
“I still feel like there’s a build up of fluid and mucus in my lungs,” Ms Demmler, who was diagnosed with the virus on March 22, said.
“I have noticed that my sense of smell is a lot less strong … and you’re definitely lethargic.
“And I’ve really struggled to sleep over recent months and have been constantly exhausted.
“But I think this time around with lockdown it’s had such a big impact on my mental health.”
Ms Demmler said the uncertainty about the long-term impacts of the virus had been one of the hardest things to deal with.
“For us people that have had the virus it’s even more upsetting that we have no clarity if we can get the virus again and what are the effects going to be long term,” she said.
She said it was “traumatic” to think she might have caught the virus again.
“I got sick about a month ago and got tested again,” she said.
“I started to feel really run down and I got really emotional thinking I was going to get coronavirus again. It’s so scary to think ‘can I get it again?’
“It was almost a traumatic experience. It’s been a pretty tough isolation for me.”
The singer-songwriter, who is also asthmatic, said she saw her doctor two weeks ago and that he was still “a little worried” about the condition of her lungs.
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