Scarring of lungs, shortness of breath, lack of smell and inflammation of the heart, are but some of the ailments COVID-19 leaves in patients long after the acute illness has passed. “We’ve also seen these long-term COVID symptoms with people who have been very mildly symptomatic and young and otherwise healthy. So, we don’t completely understand it,” said Dr. Shad Marvasti, from the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.

Doctors from the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson Department of Psychiatry said they are seeing an increasing number of patients battling mental health issues. "Initially there might have been a bit of honeymoon period," Dr. Jordan Karp, Department of Psychiatry professor and chair. That period is long over. It has been almost one year since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Karp said recent events are taking a toll on many.

California had the worst coronavirus infection rate in the nation last week. Now, Arizona has claimed that grim distinction, with one university health expert calling it “the hot spot of the world.” Joe Gerald, a professor of public health policy and management at the University of Arizona, said the state pushed down the curve over the summer with restrictions on businesses including restaurants, bars, gyms, movie theaters and water parks.

The antibody test developed at the UArizona Health Sciences can be used to confirm a positive antibody response after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

People who have strokes or mini-strokes often experience a wide range of sleep disorders in the months that follow, a problem that can put them at increased risk for subsequent strokes, an analysis shows. "It's important to note that sleep is a fundamental part of our biology, as is breathing and eating. It's not optional," said Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona. "It's something that our body needs to function and that's why it implicates so many different systems. It is critically important for both heart and brain health."

Los Angeles-based CO Architects recently won a 2020 American Architecture Award for its work on the $128 million University of Arizona Health Sciences Innovation Building (HSIB) in Tucson, Ariz.

Family members of a Peoria woman who died this week say they cannot fulfill one of her final wishes. Dr. Shad Marvasti with the College of Medicine – Phoenix says most medical schools and organizations across the country aren't taking bodies of people who died from COVID-19. "There's real concern with the risks that the body then poses for transmitting the virus to those students or researchers or anyone who comes into contact with it," said Marvasti.

You won’t hear the phrase “gut microbiome” in everyday conversation, but when you mention it to Dr. Fayez K. Ghishan, he leans forward, eager to discuss the millions of microbes that live in the human intestinal tract. His work on the role of a balanced microbiome as it relates to children’s well-being is a wealth of scientific discovery that continues to steer Arizona to prominence in pediatric healthcare.

As bad as COVID is in California, Arizona has actually topped it in cases per resident. "We are at about 118 cases per 100,000 per day right now, which is extremely alarming," said Kacey Ernst of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Arizona.

One of the scariest elements of COVID-19 is that even among those who survive the disease, damage to the lungs can linger afterward, and it's unclear whether that tissue will fully recover with time. "It is very concerning because we haven't seen this degree of fibrosis in any other disease in the past, even with the original SARS," said Sachin Chaudhary, MD, director of the Interstital Lung Disease Program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.