Experts have issued an urgent ‘death’ warning to anyone who has had Covid in the last two years. New research shows that anyone infected with the bug are at an increased risk of dying for up to two years after catching it. Most Brits have already had Covid since the pandemic, with many being infected more than once....CONTINUE READING
Following the UK’s mass vaccine rollout, many Brits have a level of protection against the virus but now scientists in the US warn that those who have had the virus are at a higher risk of dying than those who have not.
The new study, published in Nature Medicine, discovered that as far as two years after infection people who were hospitalised with the virus have a greater chance of death.
The same group also face a higher risk of severe health issues like lung disease and diabetes, as well as general fatigue, or long Covid. After two years following infection, the risk of death decline, the study shows.
For patients who weren’t hospitalised by the killer virus, it takes just six months for the risk of death to no longer be significant, it added. But this doesn’t mean they are spared some pretty nasty side effects.
They could still be at risk of over 20 medical conditions such as cardiovascular issues and blood clotting trouble, diabetes, gastrointestinal problems and kidney disorders.
Study author Doctor Ziyad Al-Aly, an epidemiologist from Washington University, said: “A lot of people think, ‘I got Covid, I got over it and I’m fine. Maybe you’ve forgotten about the Covid… but Covid did not forget about you. It’s still wreaking havoc in your body.”
In the study, scientists looked at the medical records of almost 140,000 US veterans diagnosed with Covid during the early days of the pandemic, comparing their health data against a control group of almost six million not known to have been infected. But the study also highlights that most veterans are male and older.
The study comes as a new Covid variant is causes an increase in cases. BA2.86 is a new strain of Omicron, and comes shortly after the EG5.1, or ‘Eris’ variant.
Eris currently accounts for around 15 per cent of all cases in the UK, according to UK Health Security data. Between August 6 and August 12, 6,289 people had a confirmed positive test result in England.
This shows an increase of 17.4 per cent compared to the previous seven days. Experts have suggested this sudden surge in cases could be because of poor weather in July prompting people to gather indoors without ventilation to keep them safe…CONTINUE READING>>
