COVID-19 Legacy

South Med J. 2021 Dec;114(12):751-759. doi: 10.14423/SMJ.0000000000001337.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infection caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 virus that led to a pandemic. Acute manifestations of COVID-19 include fever, cough, dyspnea, respiratory failure, pneumonitis, anosmia, thromboembolic events, cardiogenic shock, renal injury, ischemic strokes, encephalitis, and cutaneous eruptions, especially of hands or feet. Prolonged symptoms, unpredictable recoveries, and chronic sequelae (long COVID) sometimes emerge even for some people who survive the initial illness. Sequelae such as fatigue occasionally persist even for those with only mild to moderate cases. There is much to learn about postacute COVID-19 dyspnea, anosmia, psychosis, thyroiditis, cardiac arrhythmia, and/or multisystem inflammatory response syndrome in children. Determining prognoses is imprecise. Examining patient databases about those who have survived COVID-19 is warranted. Multidisciplinary teams are assessing such disease databases to better understand longer-term complications and guide treatment.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19 / complications*
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology*
  • Comorbidity
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Pandemics
  • Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
  • Prognosis
  • SARS-CoV-2