Hospitalised

CoronaVirus Updates

50% Hospitalised Covid Patients Continue to Suffer After 2 Years: Lancet

Two years after infection with Covid-19, half of patients who were admitted to hospital still have at least one symptom, according to the study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. The study followed 1,192 participants in China infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the first phase of the pandemic in 2020. While physical and mental health generally improved over time, the analysis suggests that Covid-19 patients still tend to have poorer health and quality of life than the general population. This is especially the case for participants with long Covid, who typically still have at least one symptom including fatigue, shortness of breath, and sleep difficulties two years after initially falling ill. "Our findings indicate that for a certain proportion of hospitalised Covid-19 survivors, while they may have cleared the initial infection, more than two years is needed to recover fully from it," said lead author Professor Bin Cao, of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, China. Six months after initially falling ill, 68 per cent of participants reported at least one long Covid symptom. By two years after infection, reports of symptoms had fallen to 55 per cent. Fatigue or muscle weakness were the symptoms most often reported and fell from 52 per cent at six months to 30 per cent at two years. Covid-19 patients were also more likely to report a number of other symptoms including joint pain, palpitations, dizziness, and headaches, pain or discomfort and anxiety or depression than non-Covid-19 participants. Long Covid participants also more often reported problems with their mobility or activity levels than those without long Covid. The authors also acknowledge limitations such as lack of control group of hospital survivors unrelated to Covid-19 infection. The team emphasised the need for follow-up of Covid survivors, particularly those with symptoms of long Covid. "There is a clear need to provide continued support to a significant proportion of people who've had Covid-19, and to understand how vaccines, emerging treatments, and variants affect long-term health outcomes," Cao said. Read More► Asthma in Children Likely to Worsen After Covid Infection: Study
Research

Complications in kids hospitalised with Covid: Lancet

London, July 17 (IANS) Although the risk of a child being admitted to hospital due to Covid-19 is small, a new UK study has found that around 1 in 20 children hospitalised with Covid developed brain or nerve complications linked to the viral infection. The research, published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, identifies a wide spectrum of neurological complications in children and suggests they may be more common than in adults admitted with Covid-19. "The risk of a child being admitted to hospital due to COVID-19 is small, but among those hospitalised, brain and nerve complications occur in almost 4 per cent," said researcher Stephen Ray from the University of Liverpool. "Our nationwide study confirms that children with the novel post-infection hyper-inflammatory syndrome PIMS-TS can have brain and nerve problems; but we have also identified a wide spectrum of neurological disorders in children due to Covid-19 who didn't have PIMS-TS," Ray added. While neurological problems have been reported in children with the newly described post-Covid condition paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS), the capacity of Covid-19 to cause a broad range of nervous system complications in children has been under-recognised. To address this, the researchers developed a real-time UK-wide notification system in partnership with the British Paediatric Neurology Association. Between April 2020 and January 2021, they identified 52 cases of children less than 18 years old with neurological complications among 1,334 children hospitalised with Covid-19, giving an estimated prevalence of 3.8 per cent. This compares to an estimated prevalence of 0.9 per cent in adults admitted with Covid-19. Eight (15 per cent) children presenting with neurological features did not have Covid-19 symptoms although the virus was detected by PCR, underscoring the importance of screening children with acute neurological disorders for the virus. For the first time, the study identified key differences between those with PIMS-TS versus those with non-PIMS-TS neurological complications. The 25 children (48 per cent) diagnosed with PIMS-TS displayed multiple neurological features including encephalopathy, stroke, behavioural change, and hallucinations; they were more likely to require intensive care. Conversely, the non-PIMS-TS 27 (52 per cent) children had a primary neurological disorder such as prolonged seizures, encephalitis (brain inflammation), Guillain-BarrA¿ syndrome and psychosis. In almost half of these cases, this was a recognised post-infectious neuro-immune disorder, compared to just one child in the PIMS-TS group, suggesting that different immune mechanisms are at work. Short-term outcomes were good in two-thirds (65 per cent) although a third (33 per cent) had some degree of disability and one child died at the time of follow-up. However, the impacts on the developing brain and longer-term consequences are not yet known.
Health News

Dilip Kumar hospitalised again

Mumbai, June 30 (IANS) Bollywood legend Dilip Kumar has been hospitalised once again, for the second time this month. The 98-year-old actor was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Hinduja Hospital, Khar on Tuesday, after reportedly complaining of breathlessness. As per reports, he is stable now. This is the second time this month that the veteran actor has been admitted to hospital. He was hospitalised on June 6 after experiencing breathlessness. A health update was tweeted from the actor's official account on June 9, which reads: "Thank you for your prayers. A successful pleural aspiration procedure was performed on Dilip Saab. I personally spoke to Dr. Jalil Parkar and Dr. Nitin Gokhale. They are optimistic that he will be discharged tomm (Thursday)." While the actor was in hospital earlier, his wife, veteran actress Saira Banu had earlier issued a statement on his Twitter account thanking fans for their love and prayers and requesting everyone to not pay heed to rumours. Dilip Kumar was discharged from the hospital on June 11. --IANS abh/vnc
CoronaVirus Updates

Asaram hospitalised with post-Covid complications

Jodhpur, June 16 (IANS) Controversial self-styled godman Asaram, who is serving a life sentence in connection with a rape case in Jodhpur jail, was shifted to the AIIMS here on Wednesday after he complained of breathing issues owing to post-Covid complications.On May 7, Asaram was admitted to the ICU of MDM Hospital here after testing positive for Covid-19. Later he was shifted to AIIMS Jodhpur.He started complaining of having breathing problem on Tuesday night and by Wednesday morning, his condition worsened following which he was shifted to the hospital. Initially, he had refused to go the hospital, but got admitted after doctor's advice.After preliminary examination, the doctors told him that he is suffering from post-Covid complications.A few tests have been conducted and a preliminary line of treatment is being given to him, confirmed the medical staff at the hospital.When the self-styled godman was admitted to the hospital last month, he had filed a bail petition in the high court expressing his desire to get treated at an Ayurveda hospital.However, his plea was rejected based on his medical report, which was submitted by the AIIMS medical board on the direction of the high court.Asaram then challenged the high court ruling in the Supreme Court. But the state government then stepped in and opposed granting him bail in the top court, saying that apart from AIIMS, Jodhpur has many renowned institutes of Ayurveda besides having quality medical facilities and hence he should not be granted bail.However, the lawyers of Asaram failed to appear in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, forcing the court to adjourn the hearing to June 18.--IANSarc/arm
CoronaVirus Updates

'Flying Sikh' Milkha Singh hospitalised after testing Covid positive

Chandigarh, May 25 (IANS) Covid pneumonia-hit legendary athlete and 'Flying Sikh' Milkha Singh, 91, who was last week diagnosed positive, was admitted to a private hospital near here on Monday."Mr Milkha Singh was admitted at Fortis Hospital, Mohali, in the Intensive Care Unit on 24th May 2021 with Covid pneumonia. He is stable and presently on low flow oxygen and medical management," a hospital statement said.Earlier, he isolated himself at his residence here, doctors said.His wife Nirmal Milkha Singh had said a cook, who has been with the family for 50 years, was earlier diagnosed Covid-19 positive.Since the pandemic broke last year, Milkha Singh has been appealing to the people to exercise daily during the lockdown while staying at home.In his video message, he called upon people to stay indoors during the preventive lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus."As a sportsman, I want to tell you with a humble request that you are staying indoors and for you an exercise of 15-20 minutes is very necessary," Milkha Singh, who won India's first Commonwealth gold, has been saying.Milkha Singh's son Jeev Milkha Singh is one of the top golfing icons in the country.--IANSvg/vd
CoronaVirus Updates

1 in 7 corona patients

According to a research by Goldman Sachs on the state of the pandemic in India it's difficult to ascertain currently if the delta is arising due to higher hospitalisation requirements driven by the double mutant variant or these are more precautionary in nature. US Epidemiology data presented by FDA, from early December-2020, also did show that weekly hospitalisation rates reached 15 per cent in the US in the 2nd wave. Covid related hospitalisations are starting to dip but ICU occupancy remains high We have seen Covid related hospitalisations dip over the past week as case load has reduced and recoveries/discharges have increased. If we were to go by the US experience of hospitalisations where the peak was in early January, India should see a substantial decrease in hospitalisations over the coming month. Although the overall bed occupancy for all Covid beds has dipped to 65 per cent, ICU bed occupancy in key metros (especially in the South of India) remains critical, the report said. Goldman Sachs said Covid fatalities have disproportionately been among the elderly population (> 60 years) at 60 per cent. If we were to include the adjacent cohort of 50 years, this proportion rises to 80%, given the multiple co-morbidities this population also suffers from, the report said. The report said state governments have ramped up Covid bed capacity by over 3.3x in the past 75 days, led by higher allocations in both government and private facilities. In the 13 states tracked, Covid bed capacity rose from 146k in early March to 486k by the middle of May. "We have seen Covid related hospitalizations in India starting to dip over the past week and if the US experience is to go by, we could see significant improvements over the next month," Goldman Sachs said. Drug and oxygen shortages seem to be easing, led by a combination of increased domestic production, repurposing alternate sources as well as expedited imports. Testing protocol has been diversified with the addition of allied testing such as C-RP, D-Dimer and CT Scans, to ease the load off RT-PCR capacity as well as serve as a cross-check given concerns around false negatives/lower sensitivity. Vaccinations have been targeted at high risk groups, which has yielded positive results. For instance, the case fatality rate has declined by more than half among those more than 50 years of age in the second Covid wave. This is encouraging, as vaccinations continue to roll out, the report said. The virus reproduction rate, which is a key epidemiological barometer, has fallen below the critical rate of 1, implying that infection rate should continue to decline. Apart from the unavailability of hospital beds, the second big challenge in April was the shortage of key drugs required for clinical management of Covid patients: Remdesivir and Tocilizumab. Most key manufacturers have stepped up production of Remdesivir and as per Ministry of Health data, monthly capacity has reached 10mn from 3.9mn in the beginning of April. Cipla also noted during its Q4 earnings call, that with additional capacities coming online, the demand-supply gap has narrowed considerably. India has also placed an import order with GILD for 450K doses and received 75K recently. We have seen domestic growth seen a sharp surge in April (+53 per cent yoy) driven by Covid-19 related therapies: Favipiravir/Anti infectives, Vitamins/Nutrients and Gastrointestinal. Although there was adequate production of oxygen in the country in the early part of April, only 15 per cent of it was logistically linked to be used for medical purposes. The 2nd wave saw a sharp surge in medical oxygen requirements in April as cases picked up, leading to an acute shortage at healthcare facilities. Government action included production rampup from key suppliers, diverting oxygen from Industrial to medical purposes as well as placing import orders from surplus nations. In the phase 1 of the vaccination drive, vaccination has been targeted at healthcare and frontline workers as well as population above 50 years of age or with co-morbidities. The Ministry of Health also recently put out data on fatality rates in 2021 (vs. 2020) in the 2nd Covid wave - the key conclusion is that in the high risk group (more than 50 years of age), the case fatality rate has declined by more than half. This could potentially be explained by the progress achieved on vaccination. India has currently 11 per cent of the population that has taken the first dose and 3 per cent that has taken the second dose. However, if we were to look at the high risk individuals that the government has identified of c. 300mn (Healthcare, Frontline and Population more than 50 years or those with co-morbidities), the vaccination progress is better. A 40 per cent of this group has already taken a first dose while 14 per cent have been fully vaccinated. (Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at [email protected]) --IANS<br>san/in