The researchers have found that Covid attacks the DNA in cardiac tissue, an aggressive response not detected in influenza samples.

The find debunks the line that “Covid is just like the flu,” while opening the door to future treatments.a

UQ Diamantina Institute researcher Dr Arutha Kulasinghe said the team found while COVID-19 and influenza were both severe respiratory viruses, they appeared to affect cardiac tissue very differently.

“In comparison to the 2009 flu pandemic, Covid has led to more severe and long-term cardiovascular disease but what was causing that at a molecular level wasn’t known,” he said.

“During our study, we couldn’t detect viral particles in the cardiac tissues of COVID-19 patients, but what we found was tissue changes associated with DNA damage and repair.”

Kulasinghe said DNA damage and repair mechanisms foster genomic instability and were related to chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.

UQ’s Professor John Fraser, who established the international COVID-19 Critical Care Consortium, said the findings provided insights into how COVID-19 impacted the body compared to other respiratory viruses.

“When we looked at the influenza cardiac tissue samples, we identified that it caused excess inflammation,” Fraser said.

“Whereas we found COVID-19 attacked the heart’s DNA – probably directly and not just as a knock-on from inflammation.

“Our study has highlighted that the two viruses appear to affect cardiac tissue very differently, which we want to get a better understand of in larger cohort studies.

“What we have categorically shown is that COVID is not ‘just like the flu’.”

The research has been published in Immunology.