Respiratory Complications And Covid-19

Running head: RESPIRATORY COMPLICATIONS AND COVID-19 1
Complications of Infections Associated with Coronavirus in the Respiratory System
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RESPIRATORY COMPLICATIONS AND COVID-19 2
Introduction
Coronavirus, which emerged as a new infectious viral in the year 2019, is also referred to
as COVID-19. It affects the respiratory tract, and it was first recognized in the city of Wuhan,
China, in December 2019. The virus is a zoonotic viral disease that is present in animals such as
bats and camels. Through mutations, it began infecting human beings. According to the genetic
sequence of the virus, it can be categorized as a beta coronavirus and closely concomitant to the
SARS virus (1) (Wang et al., 2020). Many persons with coronavirus only develop uncomplicated
or mild illnesses. COVID-19 can become more complicated as it is associated with other viral
infections such as pneumonia, sepsis and septic shock, failure of some organs, and the acute
respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Some of the first symptoms associated with coronavirus
include; coughing, high fever, sneezing, shortness of breath, and headache (Khalid et al., 2016).
There is no proven treatment for coronavirus that has been proven up to now.
The outbreak of COVID-19 disease was a result of a novel coronavirus, which has been
recently renamed as SARS-CoV-2. The disease spreads rapidly and in simple ways of
transmission around the world. These modes of transmission include droplets of cough or sneeze
from an infected person and also fluid contact from an infected to a healthy person. The world
cases of COVID-19 were 424,048, while there were 18.946 deaths (Badawi & Ryoo, 2016). The
respiratory system, which is mostly affected by a coronavirus, comprises different organs and
tissues that help in gaseous exchange in the body. The virus infects the lining of the lungs, throat,
and airways. Respiratory symptoms include shortness of breath and coughing, and it can result in
severe damage to the lungs within a short period. When the condition of coronavirus worsens,
one may develop acute respiratory distress syndrome, which leads to breathing difficulties. The
immune system of an individual is the one that can identify and respond to the coronavirus by

RESPIRATORY COMPLICATIONS AND COVID-19 3
producing special proteins/ antibodies to fight the disease. The high fever in a person with
coronavirus is a result of the side effect of the immune system responding to the infection. The
substances released by the white blood cells that bring about high fever are called pyrogens
(Chang et al., 2020).
Complications Associated with Coronavirus
Pneumonia
Pneumonia occurs to a patient with coronavirus when the virus causes infection on one or
two lungs. The situation that makes the patient unable to breathe is that the tiny air sacs of the
lungs are filled pus or fluid. The influenza virus is the one known to cause bacterial pneumonia.
In this case, where a COVID-19 patient develops pneumonia, it can be termed as a secondary
infection. Pneumonia affects people with compromised immune systems, such as in children and
older people (Shen et al., 2020). This is where the influenza virus weakens the protective
mechanisms of the lungs creating a favorable environment for the bacteria to enter and multiply.
A coronavirus causes pneumonia in two ways. The first one and the most common is where the
virus establishes itself in the lungs, and the other one is where pneumonia develops as secondary
bacterial infection (Chen et al., 2020).
Direct viral damage
This is the most common way in which coronavirus causes the disease. Direct damage by
the virus results in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The coronavirus attaches itself to
one of the receptors located in the lung tissue. This creates a means where the virus enters the
cells in the lungs, and it is also through this receptor that the SARS coronavirus enters the lung
cells. The infection obstructs with the host’s mechanism cells and makes more copies of itself. It