Every now and then you hear about a disease that’s out there that you’ve never heard about, and you hope you never get it. One of those is pulmonary fibrosis.
If you don’t know what it is, this is how the Pulmonary Fribrosis Foundation describes it:
"The word “pulmonary” means lung and the word 'fibrosis' means scar tissue— similar to scars that you may have on your skin from an old injury or surgery. So, in its simplest sense, pulmonary fibrosis (PF) means scarring in the lungs. Over time, the scar tissue can destroy the normal lung and make it hard for oxygen to get into your blood. Low oxygen levels (and the stiff scar tissue itself) can cause you to feel short of breath, particularly when walking and exercising. Pulmonary fibrosis isn’t just one disease. It is a family of more than 200 different lung diseases that all look very much alike. The PF family of lung diseases falls into an even larger group of diseases called the interstitial lung diseases (also known as ILD), which includes all of the diseases that have inflammation and/or scarring in the lung. Some interstitial lung diseases don’t include scar tissue. When an interstitial lung disease does include scar tissue in the lung, we call it pulmonary fibrosis."
There is no cure.
Just about now you may be wondering why I'm telling you about this. Well… I’m telling you this because pulmonary fibrosis is being discovered in patients who had COVID-19 but had NO SYMPTOMS.
That healthy 20 or 30 something year old who runs around the gym without a mask thinking they’re strong and safe may be…for now. But once you get pulmonary fibrosis, the only way to cure it is a lung transplant.
Listen to what WWL-TV medical reporter Meg Farris found out and PLEASE WEAR A DAMNED MASK for your own health and that of others:
