The test showed an antibody figure greater than 10, indicating she has developed a sufficient immunity level. (Representational)
Krishna (80) had doctors and her family in a fix. Despite showing several symptoms consistent with Covid-19, her test came back negative four times. Their worry soon turned to surprise when they found that she had already recovered from the virus, after they tested her for Covid antibodies.
A resident of Malviya Nagar, Krishna was taken to the AIIMS emergency ward by the family on June 23 after she suffered a seizure. “She had stopped eating and was on a liquid diet. Over the last 15 days, she was feeling weak but we were scared to take her to any hospital fearing the virus,” said her son Ashok Kumar (35), who works as a driver.
At the hospital, doctors found she had a high total leucocyte (white blood cell) count, and a chest x-ray suggested atypical pneumonia — a symptom commonly associated with Covid patients. She was tested via RT-PCR test on June 25 but the report was negative. Subsequently, three more tests were conducted on June 29, July 2, and July 7 as the symptoms did not match with the reports since all were negative.
“While clinically examining her, many symptoms were pointing towards Covid-19. The CECT chest x-ray was suggestive of Covid infection. Since in many cases, the illness is not caught in one test, we decided to do repeat testing. Simultaneously, we started treating her as a Covid-19 patient,” said Dr Vijay Kumar Gurjar, assistant professor, department of geriatric medicine, AIIMS.
As her condition improved, doctors started working on her discharge. On July 6, they performed the SARS-CoV2T test to check for antibodies. The test showed an antibody figure greater than 10, indicating she has developed a sufficient immunity level.
“In this case, it looks like she has developed a good number of antibodies. The incubation period of this virus is 0-27 days, so there are high chances that she had contracted the disease earlier, which was left untreated. She might have suffered the infection 20-25 days ago,” said Dr Jugal Kishore, director, head of the department of community medicine, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital.