Post-Covid lung-fibrosis tsunami looms: Paper

MUMBAI: As Covid-19 is classified as a respiratory ailment, it is not surprising that lungs are the most commonly affected organ. But city doctors are worried about the extent of damage the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, can cause in the lungs.

A review paper published in the November issue of Lung India, the peer-reviewed and indexed medical journal of the Indian Chest Society, said, “Post-Covid lung fibrosis” could be the tsunami that will follow the earthquake (caused by Covid).”

The article’s lead author, Dr Zarir Udwadia, said the review was prompted by the “dreadful fibrosis we are routinely seeing.” In the initial days of the pandemic, while doctors were still not clear about the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s ability to cause pneumonia as well as blood clots in the lungs, many patients sought treatment late that resulted in heavy scarring of lung tissues due to advanced infection.

“Physicians are likely to encounter potentially hundreds of thousands with post-Covid interstitial lung disease (PC-ILD),” said Dr Udwadia.

As the medical profession only has 11 to 12 months of knowledge about Covid-19, there is no clarity over whether patients with severely affected lungs will get normal or worsen over the years to lung failure.