Pathophysiologie von COVID-19 und deren mögliche Bedeutung für Long-COVID

At the end of 2019, a new virus of the corona family, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 for short), which causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 for short), was released for the first time. After the initial task was to first evaluate the acute changes caused by the SARS-CoV2 in more detail, clinical indications quickly emerged that persistent changes and thus clinical complaints can also be caused by the SARS-CoV-2. In addition to the changes in the immune system, the vascular system and especially the endothelium seem to play a decisive role. Since these two systems occur almost ubiquitously in the human body, the long-term consequences (also known as long COVID) are correspondingly diverse. Here, up to a duration of 3-4 weeks is spoken of an acute COVID-19, a duration between 4 and 12 weeks of a post-acute COVID-19 and a duration of 12 weeks of a chronic COVID or long COVID. In the present review, the underlying pathophysiologies / mechanisms as well as the most relevant resulting clinical changes are to be presented.