Researcher: asymptomatic coronavirus patients can still face organ damage

(Shalina Chatlani/ KPBS) — New analysis from Scripps Research has found that anywhere from 30 to 40% of people with coronavirus are asymptomatic, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t impacted by the disease.

Scripps Research cardiologist Eric Topol and his colleagues looked at research on over a dozen cohorts of coronavirus patients around the world. He found many of the patients that were asymptomatic still incurred lung abnormalities.

“People can go through a whole infection and not know it at all,” he said.

“But the other thing that we uncovered that was a surprise to us, and I don’t think most people know this, is that even though you don’t have symptoms, which is silent enough as it is, there’s another level of silence, which is you can have internal organ damage and not know it.”

One study looked at CT scans conducted individuals aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship. In that case, 54% of 76 asymptomatic individuals showed significant subclinical lung abnormalities. (…)

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