First coronavirus autopsy highlights how illness targets lungs
- The first published postmortem results found Sars-like lesions on the lungs of an 85-year-old from Wuhan
- Researchers are trying to improve their understanding of Covid-19 to develop better treatments for the disease
The first autopsy conducted on a Chinese Covid-19 victim has highlighted the damage the disease causes to the lungs.
The pathological features of Covid-19 were found to resemble those seen in severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers), which are in the same family of coronavirus.
The report, released on Friday, said it was too soon to draw firm conclusions about the disease, but said the lung lesions it produced were less pronounced than Sars. It also said there was not enough evidence to say whether damage to other organs was caused by Covid-19 or other causes.
Separate research has suggested Covid-19 may also cause stroke-like symptoms, but the postmortem found no evidence of any damage to other organs.
Chinese pathologists have so far conducted 11 postmortems to try to gain a better understanding of the disease to help develop better treatments and a vaccine, but its pathogenic mechanism and symptoms have yet to be fully understood.
The findings, pre-published in the February edition of China’s Journal of Forensic Medicine, said the lung lesions from Covid-19 were less severe than Sars.
