Mumbai: New and silent COVID-19 symptoms worry doctors

The COVID19 graph has started to slant downwards but health experts are now concerned about a new trend Patients are being rushed to emergency rooms without any prior COVID symptoms like cough cold breathing or respiratory tract issues etc In the past few weeks many patients have been brought into hospitals with either neurological issues sudden convulsions or severe abdominal pain or sudden cardiac complicationsDuring the course of clinical evaluations and RTPCR tests it was confirmed that these patients were COVID positive and going through a silent impact of the diseaseA health worker conducts an antigen test on police personnel a railway commando at Ghatkopar East PicSayyed Sameer AbediDr Ketan Vagholkar professor of Surgery at DY Patil Medical College said It is reassuring to see a significant dip in the number of fresh COVID cases However the cases which are now coming to the emergency rooms are atypical and dont show the classical symptoms of COVID19 which were seen in the initial stage of the pandemic Physicians are now forced to look outside the box and identify atypical presentation of the COVID19 infection The infection affects a variety of organ systems besides the lungs This leads to more confusion in early diagnosisDr Vagholkar added Thrombotic complications top the list of atypical presentation In the past six weeks I have evaluated six cases of atypical presentation Two of them had deep vein thrombosis of the lower extremities in young individuals age group 35 to 40 years three patients had sudden onset of pain and distension of the abdomen suggestive of mesenteric thrombosis blockage of blood supply to the intestine and the remaining patients had convulsions and stroke Interestingly none of these patients had a history of fever or the other clinical symptoms of COVID19 Therefore physicians need to consider any symptom suggestive of a thrombotic complication to be a manifestation of the COVID19 infection unless proved otherwise It was also surprising that none of the six patients or their relatives were symptomatic and therefore the family could not connect the health issues to itA BMC health worker conducts antigen tests at Naigaon Dadar PicAshish RajeA warning for peopleDr Vagholkar has a word of caution to people Any symptom of headache stroke chest discomfort abdominal discomfort or sudden swelling of the leg needs prompt physician evaluation for diagnosis as well as for COVID testing in order to prevent longterm disability and even mortalityDr Wiqar Shaikh senior allergy and asthma specialist echoed similar concerns and said Initially COVID19 was believed to be a respiratory ailment However as the months passed it became clear that it can affect other organs such as the heart brain blood vessels abdomen etc and indeed can launch a fullbody attackDr Ketan Vagholkar DY Patil Medical CollegeAtypical symptoms on the riseDr Ajay Chaughule a senior cardiothoracic surgeon said Since the beginning of the pandemic I have been seeing isolated cases of atypical symptoms However in the recent past the number and presentations of such atypical symptoms of COVID19 patients are on the riseDr Chaughule recalled the case of a 36yearold patient who had myocardial infarction and hemiparesis without COVID history After angiography it was found that he had normal coronary arteries and brain vessels But he is left with reduced heart functioning and hemiparesis and this is because of COVID19 a trend which has even put the health experts in a tizzyDr Ajay Chaughule senior cardiothoracic surgeonDr Chaughule advised Any atypical symptom should be treated as that of COVID19 in the pandemic unless proved otherwiseHow COVID19 impacts the human bodyAccording to Dr Shaikh COVID19 can impact human organs in different ways as per studies done by The Journal of the American Medical AssociationThe brain More than 36 of COVID19 patients experienced neurological symptoms such as headache dizziness confusion etc Strokes paralytic attacks have also been reported and the difficulty here is to distinguish stroke due to COVID19 and due to a comorbid condition such as blood pressure diabetes etcHeart Approximately 20 of patients with COVID19 developed heart complicationsGastro issues Studies from both the USA and China have revealed that roughly half of COVID19 patients experience diarrhea nausea vomiting and loss of appetite In fact gastrointestinal symptoms could be a warning sign of the COVID19 infectionBlood clots As many as 30 of COVID patients develop blood clotsLoss of taste and smell Approximately 65 of COVID19 patients report loss of taste and or smell as per a study published in Nature MedicineSkin rashes A rather unusual presentation of COVID19 is red and purple coloured toes and swelling burning and itches Urticarial rashes are also seen However these disappear in almost all patients and are not a longterm featureHallucinations Patients who have never suffered from any mental issues have experienced mild to severe hallucinationsHearing lossCOVID19 could lead to tinnitus ringing in the ears and hearing loss It could remain as a longterm complicationKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news