A doctor in the US has exposed the dangers of COVID-19 with startling X-rays of his patients' lungs. They show the state of the vital organs of one infected person who has been protected by a vaccine–and their lungs appear in tip-top shape. Unfortunately for another patient, who is said to have not been vaccinated, their lungs have been ravaged by the coronavirus.
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According to Dr Ghassan Kamel, director of the Medical ICU at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital in Missouri, healthy lungs are meant to appear black on X-rays.
The dark contrast from tissue and bones indicates the lungs are full of oxygen and performing well. But this is not the case in a person who has not been vaccinated before catching the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Damaged lungs
Their lungs appear milky-white on the X-rays, indicating issues such as extensive damage and scarring, a buildup of mucus as well as a lack of sufficient oxygen.
Dr Kamel warned patients with such as degree of damage would most likely need to be hooked up to an oxygen tank. In worst-case scenarios, COVID patients need to be put on life support as their lungs simply struggle to keep them alive.
Speaking to KSDK News, Dr Kamel said:
With the X-ray looking like that, they'd definitely at least require oxygen and sometimes they would require more than just oxygen.
They might require the ventilator or get intubated on mechanical ventilation, sedated, and basically on life support.
Unfortunately, the expert added many of the patients under his care have not been vaccinated against COVID.
COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, which means the coronavirus attacks the lungs. The elderly and people with underlying health conditions are particularly vulnerable to the virus. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) patients with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop a serious case of COVID.
As of August 4, WHO data shows COVID-19 has infected more than 199.46 million people around the globe and has killed more than 4.24 million. But there is a glimmer of hope: the world's biggest vaccination effort is well underway.
Thanks to the likes of Pfizer-BioNTech and the Oxford-AstraZeneca millions of people worldwide have already been inoculated.
