What does a coronavirus infection look like in the lungs? How does a coronavirus infection progress to pneumonia in the lungs? Scientists are starting to share images with one another, and the public, in hopes of gaining information rapidly about the pandemic.
All of the x-ray images in this article are courtesy of the Radiological Society of North America, which continues to compile peer-reviewed cases of COVID-9 as a “free diagnostic resource to help prevent the spread of this outbreak.”
In the caption for each image, is the summary of what’s going on in the given image, as it was submitted to the RSNA by a researcher.
Here’s what you need to know:
LOOK: X-Ray Images of Coronavirus-Infected Lungs Show How the Virus Damages the Respiratory System
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the main symptoms for coronavirus are fever, coughing, and shortness of breath. But that doesn’t fully explain how the virus manifests inside of your body, if it does infect you.
COVID-9 enters the body through respiratory droplets shared through coughing or sneezing, as explained by The New York Times. Once inside the body, the virus travels down bronchial tubes and into the lungs.
When the virus reaches the lungs, the mucus membrane of the lungs becomes inflamed, and it becomes harder for them to supply oxygen to the blood (thus the increased shortness of breath).
Pneumonia, an infection in the lung, can occur as the result of this swelling and impaired oxygen flow. In the worst case scenario, an infected patient can eventually have Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, where the lungs become so filled with fluid that the patient can’t breathe, even with support, and dies.
Though many people who become infected with coronavirus barely even experience symptoms, others who suffer from the virus have been found to come out on the other side of the virus with a reduced lung capacity, according to a new report by the Hong Kong Hospital Authority.
In a report by the China Morning Post on March 13, the Authority released its findings after observing the first wave of discharged coronavirus patients in China. These findings included the following results: some people still had trouble breathing while walking quickly, and others were believed to have a drop of up to 30% of lung function as a result of the virus.
Dr. Owen Tsang Tak-yin, medical director of the authority’s Infectious Disease Centre at Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung, said to the Chinese publication of these findings, “Some patients might have around a drop of 20 to 30 per cent in lung function [after recovery].” Tsang said more testing had to be done on these patients before any of these findings were proven to be final.
As of March 13, WHO says that approximately 80% of people who are infected with COVID-9 recover without needing any special treatment.
To The Guardian, Prof John Wilson, president-elect of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, explained that almost all serious cases of coronavirus include pneumonia. There are four broad cases of infection, he explained: in the most mild cases, the person is infected with the virus but shows no symptoms.
In the second most mild case, Wilson explained, a person gets an infection in the upper respiratory tract, which “a person has a fever and a cough and maybe milder symptoms like headache or conjunctivitis”.
The third most severe case represents the largest group of infections, Wilson said, and is comprised of flu-like symptoms that keep people from work, but don’t necessarily become severe.
The most severe case tends to lead to severe symptoms, which might lead to pneumonia. “The lining of the respiratory tree becomes injured, causing inflammation,” Wilson said. “This in turn irritates the nerves in the lining of the airway. Just a speck of dust can stimulate a cough. But if this gets worse, it goes past just the lining of the airway and goes to the gas exchange units, which are at the end of the air passages.”