Coronavirus-leaves-body-so-

Coronavirus leaves some patients with such badly damaged lungs, experts can’t even distinguish it as an organ, a professor has said.

Coronavirus-leaves-body-so-

Professor Mauro Giacca of King’s College London said the virus causes a “complete disruption to the lung structure” and can cause “massive thrombosis” – the formation of blood clots.

Speaking about the possibility of a second wave – Prof Giacca said he would be “surprised” if the UK didn’t see another spike.

He said: “Given the lockdown has been largely released, we are now back in action and we still have a pretty reasonable level of infections in the community, I would be surprised if we avoided a second wave.

“I think the real question is are we going to have a number of outbursts and then a second wave or are we just going to get a second wave?”

Last month, images were released of a healthy woman’s lungs – pictured after contracting coronavirus.

The patient, aged in just her twenties, had the vital organ removed in a rare double-lung transplant operation after she fell life-threateningly ill with Covid-19.

The double transplant was carried out in Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Medics were left with questions over how such a young and apparently healthy woman became so ill with the virus which has primarily struck down the elderly and vulnerable worldwide.

They described the woman as becoming ‘the sickest patient in the hospital’ before she was rushed from life support to surgery.

According to the hospital, it is thought to be a first double transplant of its kind in the US as the country continues to fight the pandemic.

Surgeons released details of the case in order to show other medics around the world that lung transplants could be a viable option for some desperately sick coronavirus patients.

The patient, described as a young Hispanic woman in her twenties, survived the procedure.

The hospital said she had spent six weeks on a life support machine in intensive care when it became apparent drastic intervention was needed.

This news was originally published at msn.com