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X-Ray Images Show The Damage Coronavirus Can Do To Lungs

X-Ray Images Show The Damage Coronavirus Can Do To Lungs

The scans show the lungs of a 44-year-old Chinese man who died of the coronavirus

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

Medical experts have shared x-ray and CT scan images showing the lungs of a 44-year-old Chinese man who died of the coronavirus.

Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) shared images which show the devastating impact the disease can have on people's lungs.

The man worked at the Wuhan marketplace that is thought to be the origin of the outbreak. He was admitted to hospital on Christmas Day complaining of a fever and cough. Sadly, he passed away a week later.

RSNA

The x-ray images show small white patches on the man's lungs, something radiologists call 'ground glass opacity' the partial filing of air spaces within the lungs.

The images show the fluid in the man's lungs getting progressively worse.

The patches are similar to those found in patients who had severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

RSNA also shared CT scan images of a 54-year-old woman, which show the same patches.

Medics diagnosed the woman with pneumonia caused by the COVID-19 and was suffering with a fever, fatigue and a cough.

The images have been shared just hours after the coronavirus was officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Director General of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.

"Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO's assessment of the threat posed by this coronavirus. It doesn't change what WHO is doing, and it doesn't change what countries should do.

"We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus. And we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled at the same time. WHO has been in full response mode since we were notified of the first cases.

"We have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action. We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear."

It's okay to not panic. LADbible and UNILAD's aim with our campaign, Cutting Through, is to provide our community with facts and stories from the people who are either qualified to comment or have experienced first-hand the situation we're facing. For more information from the World Health Organisation on Coronavirus, click here.

Featured Image Credit: Radiological Society of North America

Topics: World News