Around 50-70 per cent patients may experience minor or even major symptoms up to 3-6 months after recovering from COVID-19 and this is observed more in those patients who had moderate or severe form of the infection, said Dr Nikhil Narayan Bante, a lungs and TB specialist. He was speaking at webinar conducted by the Press Information Bureau.
“Majority of COVID patients recover in 2-4 weeks. However, in some patients, the COVID symptoms persist beyond four weeks—a condition known as Acute Post COVID Syndrome. If the symptoms remain even after 12 months, it is known as Post COVID Syndrome,” Bante was quoted to have said by a health ministry statement.
According to him, the most common post-COVID-19 symptoms are weakness / fatigue, difficulty in breathing, palpitation, high sweating, joint and muscle pain, loss of taste and smell and sleep disturbances. The psychological post-COVID symptoms are depression and anxiety.
Bante said there are two major reasons for post-COVID-19 symptoms—virus-related and immunity-related. Coronavirus affects not only our lungs, but can affect all organs including liver, brain and kidney. So, our body takes time to recover from the infection, he said. Besides, our immune system becomes hyperactive due to the entry of the virus. In the fight between the body and the virus, various chemicals are released which cause inflammation in our organs. In some patients, the inflammation persists for longer duration, Bante said.
According to the pulmonologist, thromboembolism is the most feared post-COVID syndrome. It is the obstruction of a blood vessel by blood clots. It can even result in heart attack or stroke, depending on where the clots occur. However, thromboembolism is being observed only in less than 5 per cent of patients recovering from COVID-19, he said.
Pulmonary embolism is another post-COVID syndrome in which early signs of blood clot in lungs are shown. Symptoms include difficulty in breathing and fall in blood pressure. Such patients need to be hospitalized immediately and evaluated, he said.
High D-Dimer levels, chronic cough, cough fatigue and pulmonary fibrosis are some of the other commonly found post-COVID syndroms, Bante said.
