Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, we know more than ever about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and how quickly it moves to ravage the human body.
What remains to be seen is how the virus — and perhaps more importantly, our immune system’s response to it — will affect the health of people long after infection, even in mild cases. This once-in-a-century pandemic that has already killed millions across the globe could leave hundreds of millions more with chronic conditions varying in acuity.
“Not only is the viral infection bad for some people, but the subsequent body’s reaction to the viral illness in many people is remarkable. I personally have never seen anything like it,” said Dr. Philip Adamson, chief medical officer of Abbott’s heart failure business. “I’ve lived through and trained through the AIDS epidemic and learned a lot about viral pathophysiology, but what this does in certain people is amazing, and amazing that it only does it in certain people. … Every organ is susceptible.”
In an interview with Medical Design & Outsourcing, Adamson discussed COVID’s potential long-term cardiovascular impacts, medical devices and components likely to be in greater demand in the decades ahead, and how the industry should think about design and diversity in our new reality.