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COVID-19 and Lung Disease
The hunger to find professional research on COVID-19 is real. Many different entities are disseminating erroneous information daily. The public eats this information up because of their desire to also learn more about the disease. Unfortunately, organizations and individuals propagate inaccurate information because of ulterior motives.
The Cleveland Clinic is one of the top research hospitals in the world, and I am fortunate to live near this institution. Many of my posts refer to the treatment I have received at the Clinic. This past October I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Brian Southern, MD. He was the focus of my column and the subsequent forum topic. Dr. Southern wears many hats at the clinic and he recently published an article titled; “Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease and Pulmonary Sarcoidosis are at High Risk for Severe Illness Related to COVID-19”. This article appeared in the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine under the content COVID-19 Curbside Consults.
“COVID-19 Curbside Consults” address key questions, issues, and concerns and, hopefully, offers solutions to managing patients with COVID-19. “COVID-19 Curbside Consults” is authored by clinicians who confront this infection daily, and they plan frequent updates”. I found these articles to be informative for our pulmonary fibrosis community. The focus is COVID-19 and covers many aspects of the disease. Although the COVID-19 virus is new, research is gathered continuously and this document is a running record of the papers authored by Cleveland Clinic medical professionals. I suggest to our members to save the document link and refer to the paper every couple of days to read the new information presented by the Cleveland Clinic.
In Dr. Southern’s paper, he confirms what lung disease patients have been speculating since the disease first became known; “about 2% of patients with COVID-19 have concomitant pulmonary disease, which is associated with worse outcomes”. I was surprised the percentage is relatively low for lung disease patients contracting the disease but not surprised at the outcomes that these patients endure. Some of the medical verbiage used may require you to have an online dictionary at your disposal but most of it reads well for laypersons.
Dr. Southern also states that “it is likely that respiratory infection with COVID-19 could trigger an exacerbation of underlying ILD and result in bad outcomes”. This finding does not bode well for our community but I also know that we know how to self-isolate and protect ourselves during this pandemic. Our forum members are well versed in the possible negative outcomes we may encounter if we were to contract COVID-19 and I know we will do everything possible to avoid acquiring this disease.
What I found interesting is “coronaviruses do not cause more severe disease in immunosuppressed patients, likely because the host innate immune response appears to be the main source of lung tissue damage”. I have always thought because patients who were on immunosuppressive therapy would be at a greater risk of severe complications.
The article has a plethora of valid and reliable information on the effects of COVID-19 on our PF community and pulmonary sarcoidosis. Please read this and the other documents in the links provided.
I am curious to know if the information in the article was new or reinforced their knowledge of COVID-19.
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8 Replies
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I am diagnosed with Interstitial Pulmonary fibrosis. What is the difference between this and Idiopathic Pulmonary fibrosis?
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Hello Robert B, I think maybe you are diagnosed with interstitial lung disease. ILD is the umbrella covering over 200 lung diseases. IPF is one of those diseases. Many doctors often give the diagnosis of ILD if there is not a complete evaluation done for the patient. Please check in with your physician because I may be wrong. Mark
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My hope and as I have mentioned on the forums here is, with all the research being done on covid-19 it will lead to some type of treatment or cure to PF.
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Hello Joe, I totally agree with you. I do know Dr. Southern is currently involved with ipf research and pulmonary sarcoidosis research. He’s a top ranked scientist who is passionate in his quest to find a cure. Thank you for your comment, mark.
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Mark –
Saw the name of the article and clicked on it and got message page not found. Do I need to sign up to read this article?Thanks.
Marianne
Hope you are doing well. I haven’t been on here for awhile. I am doing well.
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Hello Marianne, nice to hear you are doing well. The article is there, it is on the second page of articles dated May 1. I didn’t have to sign up, maybe because I get the emails but it does have a register and log in link although I’ve never signed in. Please try again. Mark
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From the BBC news feed today 24th June:
“Tens of thousands of people will need to be recalled to hospital after a serious Covid-19 infection to check if they have been left with permanent lung damage, doctors have told the BBC.
Experts are concerned a significant proportion could be left with lung scarring, known as pulmonary fibrosis.” -
Hi @waynesmith
Thanks so much for writing and sharing this, though it isn’t good news of course. I recently read something similar – that the proportion of cases of PF are going to substantially increase due to COVID-19. Very scary and I am sad for those who end up with this terrible disease as a result of the virus. My only hope is that maybe it increases research and a cure, as a result of the quantity of patients impacted. Sad to think that though….
Charlene.
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