COVID-19 Comorbid Disease That Can Be Fatal
The disease COVID-19 can affect anyone regardless of age or gender. COVID-19 is known to have an increased risk of affecting people with certain medical conditions. In this group, COVID-19 also tends to cause complications and more severe symptoms. One group that is at risk of experiencing serious symptoms if exposed to corona virus infection are those who have certain congenital diseases or commonly referred to as Comorbids. Patients with comorbids are patients who already have chronic congenital diseases such us:
- Chronic respiratory distress, COVID-19 generally attacks the respiratory tract. Therefore, people who have chronic diseases of the respiratory tract, such as COPD and asthma, are at high risk of experiencing severe symptoms when infected with the Corona virus. When infected with COVID-19, sufferers of chronic respiratory disease will be more susceptible to severe respiratory problems, such as asthma attacks, pneumonia, or even respiratory failure.
- Cardiovascular Disease, Patients with cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, and hypertension, generally have poor heart conditions and a weaker immune system. This makes sufferers of the disease susceptible to suffering from COVID-19 with more severe symptoms.
- Diabetes, Diabetes is a degenerative disease that requires intensive control and treatment. The triggers of this disease include an unhealthy lifestyle, heredity, and age. Diabetes that is not controlled over time can cause weakened immune system and damage to various organs of the body. This is what makes diabetics more susceptible to fatal complications due to infection with the COVID-19 virus. In addition, infection with the COVID-19 virus has also been shown to increase the risk of dangerous complications from diabetes, such as ketoadiosis and sepsis. These various diabetes complications can increase the risk of death from COVID-19 in diabetics.
- Hypertension, Hypertension is a high blood pressure disease that can cause various complications. There are many causes of high blood pressure, including age, being overweight, not exercising enough, and consuming excess salt. Without treatment, high blood pressure can in a certain period cause damage to internal organs, including the heart and kidneys. Therefore, people who have hypertension are very at risk of experiencing more severe conditions when exposed to COVID-19.
- Heart Disease, Heart disease is a co-disease with COVID-19 which increases the risk of death by three times. People with heart disease will experience more severe Covid symptoms than COVID-19 positive patients who do not have a history of the disease.
Patients with congenital chronic diseases are advised to apply social distancing, which is now also known as physical distancing, in order to reduce the risk of getting COVID-19. If you have to leave the house, limit the distance from other people to at least 1.5–2 meters and avoid crowds or crowded places. In addition, sufferers of chronic diseases also need to regularly consume medicines prescribed by doctors so that the disease can be controlled.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to continue to live a healthy lifestyle to strengthen their immune system. This can be done by eating a nutritionally balanced diet, washing hands frequently, reducing stress, exercising regularly at home, and staying away from cigarette smoke. If you have a chronic illness mentioned above and experience symptoms of fever, cough or shortness of breath, especially if you have had close contact with someone who has or is suspected of having COVID-19, immediately contact the nearest hospital.