WEBVTT - First Lung Transplant on Coronavirus Patient Successful

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<v Speaker 1>It's Monday, June. I'm Oscar Emiras from the Daily Dive

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<v Speaker 1>podcast in Los Angeles, and this is Reopening America as

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<v Speaker 1>we have shifted into a new phase in the coronavirus pandemic.

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<v Speaker 1>I'll still give you updates on any new information about

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<v Speaker 1>the virus and vaccine development, but I'll also be focusing

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<v Speaker 1>on how cities, states, and industry is affected by the

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<v Speaker 1>shutdown are opening back up. While the majority of people

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<v Speaker 1>who contract COVID nineteen only developed mild symptoms, there are

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<v Speaker 1>those extreme cases where the virus reeks havoc on the body.

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<v Speaker 1>In one such story, we're hearing of a patient in

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<v Speaker 1>her twenties who received a double lung transplant, the first

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<v Speaker 1>of its kind in the US since the pandemic began.

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<v Speaker 1>Tests confirmed that her lungs were beyond repair and she

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<v Speaker 1>would not survive without a transplant. She is now recovering,

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<v Speaker 1>but faces a long rehabilitation. Lenny Bernstein, health and medicine

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<v Speaker 1>reporter at The Washington Post, joins us for more. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for joining us, Lenny, thanks for having me. I wanted

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<v Speaker 1>to talk to you about a pretty interesting story in

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<v Speaker 1>the coronavirus world. This is the story of an extreme case.

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<v Speaker 1>And just so people know, the majority of people experience

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<v Speaker 1>more mild symptoms. They don't get this bad. But that's

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<v Speaker 1>what makes this thing so interesting. We just had news

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<v Speaker 1>that the first of its kind in the United States,

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<v Speaker 1>a patient received a double lung transplant because her lungs

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<v Speaker 1>got so bad after having COVID nineteen. Let me tell

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<v Speaker 1>us a little bit about this story. Yeah, you're absolutely right.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, even among hospitalized patients, this woman was one

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<v Speaker 1>of the more severe cases. She was in the ICU

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<v Speaker 1>for two months. She was on a ventilator for many weeks.

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<v Speaker 1>They even had to use ecmo with her, which is

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<v Speaker 1>a device that takes the blood outside the body, puts

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<v Speaker 1>oxygen in, and then routes it back into the body,

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<v Speaker 1>sort of like a heart lung bypass machine and helps

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<v Speaker 1>the heart pump it around. So she was really, really sick.

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<v Speaker 1>Her lungs were so badly destroyed that her heart was

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<v Speaker 1>starting to fail, her liberal was starting to fail. Other

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<v Speaker 1>organs were involved, they weren't getting the oxygen they needed,

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<v Speaker 1>and basically she would not have survived without this operation.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the most surprising things about this story, specifically

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<v Speaker 1>is that she was in her twenties. I think in

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<v Speaker 1>her later twenties, but still she was very young. I

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<v Speaker 1>was very surprised when they told us that. I thought

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<v Speaker 1>she was going to be older than that. Now they

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<v Speaker 1>won't put a double lung transplant generally into people in

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<v Speaker 1>their seventies and eighties, but I thought it was going

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<v Speaker 1>to be somebody in their fifties, maybe sixties. So when

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<v Speaker 1>they told us twenties, I was very surprised. She was

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<v Speaker 1>on immuno suppressing drugs prior to getting sick for a

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<v Speaker 1>condition that they didn't reveal in order to preserve her privacy.

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<v Speaker 1>But yeah, you didn't expect someone that young to get

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<v Speaker 1>that severely ill. It may be because of these drugs,

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<v Speaker 1>or there's previous condition, we don't know. But on top

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<v Speaker 1>of that too, the doctor who was attending on her

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<v Speaker 1>said that even though she was on those drugs, she

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<v Speaker 1>really had no other serious underlying health conditions. For the

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<v Speaker 1>most part, she was pretty healthy. So it would be

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<v Speaker 1>very interesting to see if those immunosuppressants played a part

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<v Speaker 1>in her getting so sick. But from the most part

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<v Speaker 1>she was healthy. Is kind of our understanding of it.

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<v Speaker 1>That's exactly our understanding of it. So it's a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit unexpected in that way. Now, we do see these

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<v Speaker 1>COVID cases that sort of come out of nowhere in

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<v Speaker 1>people in their twenties and thirties and forties, who statistically

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<v Speaker 1>are not the ones who are getting the most severe

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<v Speaker 1>form of the disease. But you do anecdotally hear about

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<v Speaker 1>some people who do get it. So we really don't

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<v Speaker 1>know right now. You know, in a few weeks, hopefully

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<v Speaker 1>you will be able to meet her and meet her

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<v Speaker 1>family and find out more. There have been other lung

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<v Speaker 1>transplants associated with COVID nineteen. This is the first one

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<v Speaker 1>in the United States that we know of, but there's

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<v Speaker 1>been one in Austria and China, I believe so some

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<v Speaker 1>of those had different cases to them, obviously, but doctors

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<v Speaker 1>are really interested, you know, just because in some very

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<v Speaker 1>severe cases, this might be the way to go. You're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna see this more often. I believe it will not

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<v Speaker 1>become frequent by any stretch of the imagination. It's not

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<v Speaker 1>going to be a way to take care of most people.

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<v Speaker 1>But there are going to be a small number of

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<v Speaker 1>people whose loans are so severely destroyed that they would

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<v Speaker 1>never get off a ventilator. If it were not for transplant.

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<v Speaker 1>I looked at a photo of her lungs and they

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<v Speaker 1>were just demolished. The virus did such a number on her.

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<v Speaker 1>She had secondary bacterial infections that they could not control

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<v Speaker 1>with antibiotics because the blockages and her capillaries were so

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<v Speaker 1>trashed that the drugs were just not reaching the infections

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<v Speaker 1>and having any effect whatsoever. So you are from time

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<v Speaker 1>to time going to see this kind of thing. I

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<v Speaker 1>wouldn't be surprised if you saw other organs transplanted as well.

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<v Speaker 1>The doctor said that her lungs developed these strange holes

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<v Speaker 1>that look like Swiss cheese. I saw some of the

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<v Speaker 1>X rays as well, and it's just crazy to think

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<v Speaker 1>of how this virus can affect the body in so

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<v Speaker 1>many different ways. My understanding is also that she was

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<v Speaker 1>on the organ transplant waiting list, thankfully not for very long,

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<v Speaker 1>only for two days now. The organ transplant waiting list

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<v Speaker 1>is prioritized by the sickest people, and in fact there's

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<v Speaker 1>a category for people who are almost in an emergent situation.

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<v Speaker 1>So my guests, without knowing for sure, is that she

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<v Speaker 1>was moved quickly to the top of the list once

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<v Speaker 1>she became eligible for a transplant, and that they got

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<v Speaker 1>very lucky and found this local donor, both of whose

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<v Speaker 1>lungs were made suitable for her. It's often hard to

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<v Speaker 1>find lungs compared with kidneys and livers. There's not as

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<v Speaker 1>many lung transplants in the United States even before COVID,

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<v Speaker 1>and of course kidneys and livers you can do live

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<v Speaker 1>donation loans. Of course you can't. This is a very

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<v Speaker 1>extreme case, and I think for me that's why it's

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<v Speaker 1>so interesting to know how far this virus can take people.

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<v Speaker 1>You also helped write another piece just about other people

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<v Speaker 1>that have been sick with coronavirus for more than sixty days.

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<v Speaker 1>They don't know if it's the virus is living that long,

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<v Speaker 1>or if it's just kind of it's gone away, but

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<v Speaker 1>the effect that it had on their body has the

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<v Speaker 1>symptoms kind of reoccurring. So that's kind of another aspect

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<v Speaker 1>of this is that it lasts pretty long in some people.

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<v Speaker 1>As you pointed out a few minutes ago, this is

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<v Speaker 1>a very nasty virus, and what makes it so nasty

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<v Speaker 1>is its ability to affect different people in different ways.

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<v Speaker 1>So you have people who have a cute kidney injury

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<v Speaker 1>you have people who have blood clots that travel to

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<v Speaker 1>their brain or travel to their hearts. You have people

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<v Speaker 1>whose lungs aren't destroyed. And now again anecdotally, we are

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<v Speaker 1>hearing from people who continue to suffer symptoms for sixty

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<v Speaker 1>or more days. And the symptoms sometimes come in waves

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<v Speaker 1>where they're bad for a while, then they're good for

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<v Speaker 1>a while, and they come back again. The symptoms come

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<v Speaker 1>in ways, different kinds of symptoms each week, So for

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<v Speaker 1>while they're suffering from stomach problems, for another week they're

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<v Speaker 1>suffering from respiratory problems. So this virus, if it turns

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<v Speaker 1>out to be the virus, is a very versatile bug

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<v Speaker 1>that is affecting people in all kinds of different ways.

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<v Speaker 1>And we just wrote a story today, as you said,

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<v Speaker 1>the people who have had to endure this kind of

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<v Speaker 1>stuff for six eight ninety days and don't know when

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<v Speaker 1>that's gonna end. Lenny Bernstein, health and medicine reporter at

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<v Speaker 1>the Washington Post, thank you very much for joining us.

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<v Speaker 1>My pleasure. Stay well. I'm Oscar Ramirez and this is

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<v Speaker 1>reopening America. Don't forget After today's big news stories, you

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<v Speaker 1>can check me out in the Daily Dive podcast. Every

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<v Speaker 1>Monday through Friday, so follow us on I Heart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you get your podcast