Texas doctor warns: Covid patients’ lungs are worse than heavy smokers

Reporter : Ling Shan / Editor : Zhang Lili / https://www.soundofhope.org/post/464894 / Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA / Image source : Dr. Brittany Bankhead-Kendall

A trauma surgeon in Texas, USA, said that few covid patients can have lung X-rays that are not dense. Even if some patients declare that they are cured or feel that they have no symptoms, their lungs will be worse than any patient damaged by heavy smoking.

Doctor Brittany Bankhead-Kendall is an assistant professor of surgery at Texas Tech University. Since March 2020, Britta has treated thousands of covid patients. Britta said that X-rays of symptomatic patients will show severe scars and congestion, and 70%-80% of asymptomatic patients will also show severe lung damage. She said, "Some people will say, ‘I’m fine. I don’t have any problems.’ If you take an X-ray of their lungs, you can see that their lungs are completely bad." Britta told CBS that the lungs of normal healthy people are very clean, and there are a lot of black in the photo, mainly air. In the lungs of heavy smokers, there are many white lines that indicate scars and congestion, while the lungs of COVID patients are almost fully white. "You will see a lot of white, dense scars, or you will see it all over the lungs. Even if you don't feel the problem now, the fact that X-rays do exist, which basically indicates (even if healed) patients may also encounter problems in the future." An infectious disease expert and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, Amesh Adalja, said that some serious patients may be affected in the next few years. "When someone recovers from pneumonia, whether it is bacterial pneumonia or viral pneumonia, their chest X-rays will take some time. Chest X-rays are not good for your clinical progress. X-rays still do not look "Alright," he said, "and we know that people with COVID-19 will get severe pneumonia...it will take time to heal. Some of them may be permanent." Britta said, “It is important that if you feel short of breath after recovery, please keep in touch with your healthcare practitioner.”