COVID-19: UK man narrates painful ordeal of nursing sick wife

A man from Yorkshire has narrated how his wife has been hit hard by the coronavirus that has so far claimed over 6,000 lives globally.

Ben Aitken said that his wife, who is in his mid 30's, contracted the disease and is currently floored by it.

"...she is fit and healthy and has no underlying health conditions...but for the past two days, has barely been able to string a sentence together without gasping for breath..." he says.

Via twitter on Monday, Aitken said that his wife has been suffering bouts of fatigue.

"....this has led me to have lift her up off the floor and carry her to bed...after which I then have to somehow disinfect myself to try and nullify the chance of me getting it," he said.

" If an elderly or sick person were to get it to the level she has it there is a high chance they would die, I have no doubt about that in the slightest."

Noting that she works in a health care and has immaculate self hygiene standards, Aitken said that his wife still contracted the disease.

"..we are both now on 14 days lock down. An ambulance has been to the house but the decision was made for her to stay here...

"When she is resting she is okay...when she tries to do anything she is floored and gasping for breath in seconds. Whatever is happening is real."

Aitken noted that there were periods during the past 48 hours where it's seemed like she was fine and even potentially recovered.

"...then bang! Another wave hits her, back to square one or worse. It is a very nasty virus and clearly extremely dangerous to some, " he said.

This is the typical effects of what can happen to you when you contract the virus.

For most people, the disease is mild, but some people die.

HOW THE VIRUS ATTACKS THE BODY

So how is the virus attacking the body, why are some people being killed and how is it treated?

This is when the virus is establishing itself.

Viruses work by getting inside the cells your body is made of and then hijacking them.

The coronavirus, officially called Sars-CoV-2, can invade your body when you breathe it in (after someone coughs nearby) or you touch a contaminated surface and then your face.

It first infects the cells lining your throat, airways and lungs and turns them into "coronavirus factories" that spew out huge numbers of new viruses that go on to infect yet more cells.

At this early stage, you will not be sick and some people may never develop symptoms.

The incubation period, the time between infection and first symptoms appearing, varies widely, but is five days on average.

Mild disease

This is all most people will experience.

Covid-19 is a mild infection for eight out of 10 people who get it and the core symptoms are a fever and a cough.

Body aches, sore throat and a headache are all possible, but not guaranteed.

The fever, and generally feeling grotty, is a result of your immune system responding to the infection. It has recognised the virus as a hostile invader and signals to the rest of the body something is wrong by releasing chemicals called cytokines.

These rally the immune system, but also cause the body aches, pain and fever.

The coronavirus cough is initially a dry one (you're not bringing stuff up) and this is probably down to irritation of cells as they become infected by the virus.

Some people will eventually start coughing up sputum - a thick mucus containing dead lung cells killed by the virus.

These symptoms are treated with bed rest, plenty of fluids and paracetamol. You won't need specialist hospital care.

This stage lasts about a week - at which point most recover because their immune system has fought off the virus.

However, some will develop a more serious form of Covid-19.

This is the best we understand at the moment about this stage, however, there are studies emerging that suggest the disease can cause more cold-like symptoms such as a runny nose too.