KOLKATA: Severe respiratory distress and Covid pneumonia have been frequent among ICU patients across private hospitals in Kolkata in last two weeks, prompting doctors to suspect that even Omicron can trigger lower respiratory tract illnesses, especially in the case of patients who are ‘unresponsive’ to vaccines.
A section of elderly patients with comorbidities may not have developed antibodies adequately, exposing them to a more severe disease, they argued. So far, Omicron-induced Covid had largely been restricted to upper respiratory tract.
There could be three reasons behind a spurt over the last 10 days, said CMRI Hospital director of pulmonology Raja Dhar. “First, the residual Delta cases seem to be causing a severe Covid more frequently than they did in second wave when it was the dominant strain. Secondly, a small percentage of Omicron cases have been as severe as Delta due to a mutation that has almost wiped out the difference between the two. Finally, those still unvaccinated or partially jabbed are getting a more severe disease,” he said.
Peerless Hospital clinical research director Subhrojyoti Bhaumik said: “Global research has shown that Omicron could be severe in some cases. Delta is still in circulation and may affect lower respiratory tract which is now happening, especially in case of elderly patients with comorbidities.”
He added that a sizeable section of senior citizens could remain vulnerable to severe Covid since they are unresponsive to vaccines. “While some got a severe infection since they chose to skip vaccine or got just one dose, there are more who are fully vaccinated yet have got severe Covid. It is likely that they didn’t get adequate antibodies from vaccine which is why we need to do an antibody titer test to gauge the count and know if the recipient is actually protected against the virus,” said Bhaumik.
Out of 35 patients in critical care at RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, 11 have severe respiratory distress. “While the total number has declined, a section of critical care patients remain serious,” said zonal head R Venkatesh.
Woodlands has 11 patients at Covid ICU, most of them elderly with comorbidities. “All have respiratory complaints and are on oxygen support,” said Rupali Basu, MD of Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital.
Belle Vue Clinic has six patients in its Covid ICU of whom three are serious.
The typical symptoms in severe cases have been high fever, low oxygen saturation and Covid pneumonia. “Most of them have needed oxygen support and non-invasive ventilation. But the section which had severe comorbidities have been more severely affected than those for whom Covid was the principal illness,” said Dhar. He cited the instance of two patients in their forties — without comorbidities — who came out of ventilation this week.
Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education & Research professor Diptendra Sarkar agreed. He, though, said there is a significant section of patients that’s immune-suppressed and have not had adequate protection from vaccines.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/covid-icus-see-rise-in-critical-cases/articleshow/89212569.cms
