More worrying concerns for COVID-19 survivors

Dec 08, 2020 News

– Emergency Medicine Specialist reveals

Emergency Medicine Specialist, Dr. Zulfikar Bux

Kaieteur News – After being unleashed on the world, one year ago, COVID-19 has been wreaking tremendous havoc in just about every facet of our existence. The capacity of health sectors particularly, have been pushed beyond their limits over the course of the year, forcing the introduction of innovative means to attend to those in need of care.
But there is even more troubling news emerging about the impact this disease can have on health.
Sharing on this recent development in his column of Sunday December 6, 2020 in this newspaper, Emergency Medicine Specialist, Dr. Zulfikar Bux, revealed that even if infected persons survive the disease, there can be worrying times ahead.
Dr. Bux made reference to the possibility of recovered patients being subjected to complications from organ damage caused by the infection. This he had shared in a previous column, but had quite a bit more to add.
“A few months ago, I had highlighted that there are long-term effects of COVID-19 that are showing up in patients and may be a worrying trend for survivors of COVID-19. Unfortunately, studies are showing these effects in more survivors than previously thought,” Dr. Bux revealed.
Some studies, he said, have shown effects in up to 70 percent of survivors but the common consensus seems to be around 10 percent of the population showing these long-term effects.
Patients affected by this are called “long haulers” and scientists, the medical practitioner said, are calling this new phenomenon Post-COVID-19 syndrome.
He noted that while Post-COVID-19 syndrome is seen more commonly in those with the severe form of the disease, doctors are seeing increasing numbers of patients who were asymptomatic or had the milder form of the disease.
In sharing what he described as “scary facts about life after COVID-19,” Dr. Bux said that his aim is to ensure that people can better understand and help support those who develop Post-COVID-19 syndrome.
In addition to organ damage complications, Post-COVID-19 syndrome may present a range of symptoms. The most common ones, Dr. Bux revealed, are: fatigue, difficulty breathing, joint pain, chest pain, brain fog (including an inability to concentrate and impaired memory), loss of taste and/or smell and sleep issues.
According to Dr. Bux, since people who have severe symptoms of COVID-19 often have to be treated in a hospital’s intensive care unit with mechanical assistance such as ventilators to breathe, “simply surviving this experience can make a person more likely to later develop post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression and anxiety.”
Since it is not the easiest task to predict long-term outcomes from the disease, Dr. Bux said that scientists are looking at the long-term effects seen in related viruses, such as the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). “Many people who have recovered from SARS have gone on to develop chronic fatigue syndrome, a complex disorder characterized by extreme fatigue that worsens with physical or mental activity but doesn’t improve with rest. The same may be true for people who have had COVID-19,” Dr. Bux theorized.
Dr. Bux noted that although the disease primarily affects the lungs, it can damage many other organs increasing the risk of Post-COVID-19 syndrome. Among the organs that can become damaged are the lungs, heart, brain, kidneys and liver.
Post-COVID-19 syndrome can be seen in people who had to visit a hospital with concerning symptoms or who had advanced symptoms that required a brief hospital stay, Dr. Bux revealed.
It can also occur in people who had mild symptoms and self-treated at home, he added. But according to him, “The actual frequency of Post-COVID-19 syndrome is still largely up for debate, and different studies find this condition to be more or less common in various groups of people.”
Those most at risk for developing Post-COVID-19 syndrome, according to Dr. Bux are: adults over the age of 50; people who experienced a more severe case; individuals with underlying health conditions, particularly cardiopulmonary issues, hypertension, diabetes or obesity.
Given the far-reaching health impact, Dr. Bux has concluded that “COVID-19 is more than just overcoming a bout of flu-like illness. The lasting effects are too common and can be dangerous. The best way to avoid Post-COVID-19 syndrome is to avoid COVID-19 itself.”
To achieve this, the Emergency Medicine Specialist said, “practice preventative measures and avoid getting the virus so that you do not have to face life with Post-COVID-19 syndrome.”