The looming threat of Long Covid

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People without wearing face mask gather at tea stall in Hyderabad. | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

Long Covid, a condition where a patient suffers from COVID-19 symptoms long after recovering from the infection, has become an issue of concern.

Speaking about the orthopaedic problems arising in Long Covid patients, Dr. A.V. Gurava Reddy, surgeon and chairman of Sunshine Bone and Joint Institute, says that earlier, he used to see four to five hip joint patients in a month. However, now, he is coming across 10 patients a week.

Covid hip

COVID-19 has created a lot of problems in the hip joint for a lot of young patients suffering from a blood supply block called Avascular Necrosis. Most of them are suffering from this due to the steroid intake during COVID-19. Earlier, people had other reasons, like alcoholism. Some were even idiopathic, where the cause is unknown. But today, COVID-19 has become the new cause.

"COVID-19 hip is mainly hurting the young male population between the age of 25 to 35 years. Unable to bear the pain, a few are even opting for hip replacement"Dr. A.V. Gurava ReddyOrthopaedic surgeon

Dr. Reddy adds that Covid hip is mainly hurting the young male population between the age of 25 to 35 years. Unable to bear the pain, a few are even opting for hip replacement.

The most common symptoms of Long Covid include weakness, fatigue, and lethargy. Most people are always complaining of on-and-off fevers and decreased immunity as they are unable to do the activities they would do before the pandemic.

Need to improve immunity

Dr. Krupan Kumar, Senior Consultant Physician at Apollo Hospitals, said that such people need to work on building their immunity, which can happen through regular exercise and good food. "Before COVID-19, we would not see all these symptoms. But today, very often, people are presenting with such conditions," he says.

Dr Krupan is seeing four to five patients with Long Covid symptoms per week. Patients who have been vaccinated have been found to have serious effects.

"In the last few months, there have been many instances where young people have just collapsed while doing their daily routine and died due to cardiac arrest"Dr. Krupan KumarCardiologist

Apart from the other concerns, the recent events of cardiac arrest coming to light were also attributed to Long Covid. In the last few months, there have been many instances where young people have just collapsed while doing their daily routine and died due to cardiac arrest. 

Dr. T. Krishna Kumar, Senior Interventional Cardiologist at Yashoda Hospitals Secunderabad, says, "The major symptom for people suffering from Long Covid is heart palpitations characterised with increased heart rate along with extreme fatigue. There is an indirect relationship between Long Covid and cardiac arrests. During COVID-19, a lot of people stayed indoors, did not exercise properly and did not get regular heart check-ups. Even when people had the need to see a doctor, it was getting postponed due to the scare of COVID-19."

Heart failure

"Recently, I have seen patients getting admitted for right heart failure. This happens due to the lung getting damaged and the entire pressure being pushed to the right side of the heart. Whenever the respiratory reserve is depleted like in the case of COVID-19, it takes a toll on another organ of the body. When we take the history of such patients, we mostly find that it is an after-effect of the patient suffering from COVID-19 infection."