Nagpur: Thousands of Covid-19 patients are recovering without any symptoms, while lakhs are recovering without even realizing that they had been infected because their immune system developed antibodies. But this doesn’t make Covid-19 less dangerous at all.
In a case recently reported at a hospital in city, a 52-old patient lost his right side vision due to post-Covid complications, doctors claimed. The patient is undergoing treatment at Orange City Hospital and Research Institute (OCHRI).
Doctors said the patient had reported to an eye specialist with complaints of diminished vision (partial blindness) along with headache, giddiness and imbalance while walking. Suspecting a neurological problem, eye specialist Dr Abhay Agashe referred him to neurology department.
Investigations revealed that it was neurological blindness due to acute non-haemorrhagic infarct in left PCA territory with thrombotic occlusion. Generally, this type of interruption of blood flow within the brain happens in patients having risk factors like diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol, sedentary lifestyle, atrial fibrillation etc. But the patient had no such risk factors associated.
As per protocol, his RT-PCR test was conducted and it resulted in negative which suggested that he was not having Covid-19 either. Finally, doctors did antibody test to check whether he had prior infection of Covid-19 and recovered without developing any symptoms. His IgG antibody test came positive with high amount of Covid-19 antibodies detected in blood.
Physician Dr Devayani Buche, who also runs daily post Covid OPD at OCHRI, said, “It is now well established that coronavirus causes problems in the brain while initially it was all about the lungs. It is important to understand neurological impact of the virus.”
Critical care physician Dr Rajesh Atal added that stroke can be a presenting symptom of Covid-19 and can happen in young people without traditional stroke risk factors. “Usually, blood thinners are given for 3-4 weeks to all diagnosed Covid patients during post Covid follow-up. However, in such cases wherein the patient remained asymptomatic and was unaware of his Covid status, lack of essential post Covid prophylactic medications can unfortunately lead to such eventuality,” he said.
Dr Agashe said that a post Covid patient can present with such diverse symptoms like diminution of vision in one or both eyes or just difficulty in focusing on objects. “Every patient who has unusual symptoms should be suspected of possible after-effects of Covid infections irrespective of previous positive history of the disease,” he said.
OCHRI director Dr Anup Marar reiterated the need for regular post Covid follow-up. “Citizens should get Covid antibody test done to confirm their post infection status so that they can undertake post Covid consultation and be on needful medications,” he said.
Get antibodies done
- The clotting tendency in the blood can last for several weeks after Covid subsides
- Corona related strokes can happen to any Covid recovered patient, irrespective of symptoms
- In this case, patient was asymptomatic and was unaware of his Covid status
- Lack of essential post-Covid medications lad to partial vision loss for him