Understanding the Enemy

At first, it seemed like COVID-19 was largely a respiratory disease, it's now becoming evident that the SARS-Cov-2 virus can affect many parts of the body, including the brain, heart, kidneys, and circulatory system. Science has published an article that describes how the virus affects the body. It's scary reading; you really don't want to catch this disease.

What follows is a snapshot of the fast-evolving understanding of how the virus attacks cells around the body, especially in the roughly 5% of patients who become critically ill. Despite the more than 1000 papers now spilling into journals and onto preprint servers every week, a clear picture is elusive, as the virus acts like no pathogen humanity has ever seen. Without larger, prospective controlled studies that are only now being launched, scientists must pull information from small studies and case reports, often published at warp speed and not yet peer reviewed. “We need to keep a very open mind as this phenomenon goes forward,” says Nancy Reau, a liver transplant physician who has been treating COVID-19 patients at Rush University Medical Center. “We are still learning.”