COVID-19's damage to organs not yet backed by enough evidence —DOH

Claims that COVID-19 leaves a long-term damage to the organs of survivors has yet to be supported by enough evidence, the Department of Health said Friday.

In an online forum, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire cited some anecdotal experiences of those who recovered from the novel disease.

"'Yung iba they were saying they are having this frequent headaches, 'yung iba 'yung parang feeling of easy fatigability, 'yung laging parang pagod na pagod, ang kailang strength parang 'di bumalik," Vergeire said.

"Pero wala po hong sapat na ebidensya lahat 'yang sinasabi na 'yan. Lahat 'yan pinag-aaralan pa rin natin," she added.

Vergeire said the DOH was still monitoring the health of those who have recovered from COVID-19 to validate if such circumstances really occur.

Last month, World Health Organization emergencies director Michael Ryan said very little was known about the long-term effects of even mild COVID-19 infections.

"This disease while it may be mild, it may be moderate, it can affect many organs," he said.

"We just don't know what the long-term impact of those infections will be," he added.

Citing a study in Germany which followed COVID-19 patients who were never admitted to hospitals, Ryan stressed that MRI scans of some survivors' hearts had shown "profound changes, inflammatory changes in the cardiac linings of the heart and the cardiac muscles."

As of August 28, a total of 134,474 COVID-19 patients in the Philippines have already recovered out of the total 209,544 who got infected. -NB, GMA News