Covid 19 coronavirus: Serious new after-effect worries cardiologists

People line up behind a healthcare worker at a mobile coronavirus testing site in the US city of Los Angeles on July 22. Photo / AP

Former neuroscientist and respected British health and science reporter Dr David Cox has revealed an alarming potential long-term symptom of Covid-19.

Writing for The Guardian, Cox claimed coronavirus could leave patients with "lasting heart damage long after the initial symptoms had 'dissipated'".

He reported that the worrying after-effect was first noticed by Wuhan doctors in the early days of China's pandemic, who noted a significant number of coronavirus cases were admitted to intensive care wards with myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle.

Cox cited several studies which showed a significant number of coronavirus patients were experiencing "cardiac injuries".

While not all Covid-19 sufferers will experience that particular side effect – and while many of those who do will recover – Cox said cardiologists were growing increasingly worried by the fact that even those who experienced only mild virus symptoms could be "at risk of developing heart problems".

"Cardiologists are still trying to find out exactly why some people are left with enduring heart problems despite having had an apparently mild bout of Covid-19," Cox wrote.

"The underlying mechanisms are thought to be slow and subtle changes that are quite different to those that put strain on the heart during the acute illness, especially in patients who have been hospitalised with the disease."