Chronic disease patients can't slack post virus: Expert

ANTALYA, Turkey

People with chronic illnesses who recover from COVID-19 must remain wary of its enduring effects on their bodies, a Turkish doctor warned on Saturday.

Any person with heart, kidney, or other serious diseases cannot afford any complacency after beating COVID-19, according to Prof. Ata Nevzat Yalcin, who is part of the faculty of medicine at Akdeniz University in Turkey’s Antalya province.

“Those in the high-risk group cannot simply rely on the logic that they have overcome the disease,” he told Anadolu Agency.

“COVID-19’s lingering damage on the body makes it imperative that patients are carefully monitored for a period after they recover.”

Yalcin said a study in the US showed that people recovering from COVID-19 must pay close attention to their health for at least the next two months.

The research, which included 1,600 patients in 38 hospitals, focused on people who survived COVID-19 and were hospitalized again for another ailment.

The data showed that an overwhelming majority of patients admitted with COVID-19 also had blood pressure issues, diabetes, or cardiovascular diseases, according to Yalcin.

“Bouts of chronic diseases can be much more severe after COVID-19,” he said.

Stressing that the virus damages the entire body, he urged people to strictly follow safety and hygiene rules at all times.