This finding may help doctors understand what is responsible for a syndrome known as ‘long COVID.' People with this condition can suffer ongoing health problems for months.
这一发现可能有助于医生了解导致“长期新冠肺炎”综合征的原因。这种患者会持续遭受几个月时间的健康困扰。
A report on the study appeared in eBioMedicine, a medical journal published by The Lancet.
有关研究报告发表在《柳叶刀》出版的医学杂志《 eBioMedicine》上。
Scientists leading the research said they found some unusual characteristics of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. These qualities may explain why it is able to cause such harm.
主导这项研究的科学家们表示，他们发现了新冠病毒的一些异常特征。这些特征也许可以解释为何它能造成这种伤害。
One of the co-leaders of the work, Mauro Giacca, serves as a professor at King's College London. He said the findings seem to show that "COVID-19 is not simply a disease caused by the death of virus-infected cells."
毛罗·贾卡是这项研究的共同负责人之一，他在伦顿国王学院担任教授。他说，这些发现似乎表明，新冠肺炎不单单是一种由病毒感染细胞的死亡而引发的疾病。
In some patients, he said, the seriousness of the disease is likely the result of these "cells persisting for long periods inside the lungs."
他说，在一些患者中，这种疾病的严重性可能是这些细胞在肺内长期存在的结果。
Giacca and other researchers studied tissues from the lungs, heart, liver, and kidneys of 41 patients who had COVID-19. They all died at Italy's University Hospital of Trieste between February and April 2020.
贾卡等研究人员研究了41名新冠肺炎患者的肺、心脏、肝脏和肾脏组织。这些患者都于2020年2月到4月之间在意大利“的里雅斯特大学附属医院”去世。
"Massive" damage
“巨大的”损害
Giacca spoke with Reuters news agency about the team's findings. He said that his research team found no clear signs of viral infection or long-term inflammation in other organs. But they did discover massive damage to the structure of the lungs.
贾卡对路透社谈到了该团队的发现。他说，他的研究小组没有发现其它器官有病毒感染或长期炎症的明显迹象。但是他们确实发现了对肺部结构的巨大损害。
Healthy tissue, he noted, was "almost completely substituted by scar tissue." Giacca told Reuters that this massive damage could be one of the reasons people are suffering from long COVID.
他指出，健康组织几乎完全被瘢痕组织所替代。贾卡对路透社表示，这种大范围的破坏可能是人们患上“长期新冠肺炎”的原因之一。
"Even if someone recovers from COVID," he added, "the damage that is done could be massive."
他还表示：“即使有人从新冠肺炎中恢复过来，也可能已经造成了巨大的损害。”
Growing evidence suggests that a small number of COVID-19 survivors can experience some ongoing symptoms. These include extreme tiredness, unclear thinking and shortness of breath. The condition is often called "long COVID."
越来越多的证据表明，有少数新冠肺炎幸存者会经历一些持续的症状。这些症状包括极度疲劳、思维不清和呼吸急促。这种情况通常被称为“长期新冠肺炎。”
Giacca noted that almost 90 percent of the 41 patients he studied had several characteristics unique to COVID-19.
贾卡指出，在他研究的41名患者当中有近90%具有新冠肺炎特有的几个特征。
One trait was that patients had extensive blood clotting in passageways transporting blood to and from the lungs. Another was that some lung cells were very large and had many nuclei. This was a result of the combining of different cells into single large cells.
特征之一是患者血液在进出肺部的通道中存在大量的血块。另一个特征是一些肺部细胞非常大并且有很多核。这是不同细胞合并为单个大细胞的结果。
The researchers also found the coronavirus was still present in many kinds of cells.
研究人员还发现，新冠病毒还存在于多种细胞中。
Giacca said that the existence of infected cells can cause the major structural changes seen in lungs. These changes can last for several weeks or months and might, he added, explain "long COVID."
贾卡表示，被感染细胞的存在会导致肺部发生重大结构变化。这些变化可能会持续数周或数月时间，这也可能解释了长期新冠肺炎的原因。