Pandemic experts from Hyderabad have enumerated more than 100 symptoms related to SARS-CoV-2 infection, including those of post-COVID recovery, in an attempt to improve understanding of the novel virus and for better treatment.

The symptoms vary from a simple headache to temporary loss of fertility among men, Guillain Barre Syndrome to nightmares, facial palsy to short-term memory loss and bone damage. COVID-19 is the first disease that has shown numerous symptoms that may persist even after the patient has recovered and up to six months to one year.

The city was part of an international cohort study conducted in several cities across 56 countries, which suggested that long COVID patients have symptoms that add up to 203. Doctors in Hyderabad relate the symptoms to brain, heart, reproductive organs, lungs, skin and kidneys. Some of the symptoms are psychological, including nightmares and vivid dreams, and even a sense of fear that someone is stalking them, confusion and sleep disturbances. Dr P Ranganadham, senior neurosurgeon, Sunshine Hospitals, Gachibowli, enlisted around 40 symptoms related to the nervous system alone. Dr Ranganadham said that evidence obtained over the last 18 months indicate that all the six divisions of the central and peripheral nervous systems are affected by the novel coronavirus.

Some of the symptoms mentioned by Dr Ranganadham include loss of smell, diminished taste, Guillain Barre Syndrome, Miller Fischer syndrome, foot drop, muscle pain, cramps, fatigue, paraesthesia, numbness, facial palsy, loss of interest in work, visual loss, disturbances of eye mobility, encephalopathy, encephalitis, stroke, epilepsy, meningitis, myelitis, ataxia, sleep disturbances, daytime sleepiness, depression, headache, memory loss, confusion and mental fuzziness.

Dr Roya Rozati, a fertility expertat MHRT Hospital, said that COVID-19 tends to affect the fertility levels, especially among men. Dr Luqman Ahmad Khan, a senior physician, stated that he had witnessed more than a dozen symptoms in patients whom he treated. He added that long COVID-19 is variable in nature. Dr Chetan Rao Vaddepally, a consultant pulmonologist at Yashoda Hospitals, has enlisted some 30 symptoms, including multiorgan effects.

Source: ET Healthworld