Ahmedabad: Now, Covid sepsis seen in elderly patient

AHMEDABAD: Even as the state battles an aggressive Covid-19 pandemic which has claimed 858 lives till Sunday, doctors are reporting unusual clinical presentations of the virus in Covid patients. A rare manifestation of 'Covid-sepsis' was reported in an elderly patient in the 1,000-bed SVP Hospital, the second biggest Covid-19 treatment facility in the city.


"Bacterial sepsis is common in ICUs but Covid-sepsis or viral sepsis is a rarely used terminology. In the current Covid pandemic, we observed a Covid-19 patient presenting all features of septic shock. The patient had severely cold extremities with colour change at distal extremities," said leading infectiious diseases specialist Dr Atul Patel, who also reviews critically ill Covid-19 patients said.

Interestingly, unlike the bacterial sepsis wherein patient develops hypotension or low blood pressure, the Covid-sepsis was characterized by hypertension or high blood pressure.

"Patient with severe Covid-19 infection developed cold hand and feet with colour change at ends but there was absence of hypotension. On the contrary, the patient had hypertension. In regular medical teaching, cold extremities are observed in patient with hypotension requiring vasopressor therapy to raise the blood pressure," said Dr Patel.

The ID expert said that Gujarat is witnessing an aggressive form of Covid-19 infection wherein the rapid pace of disease progression is unprecedented and requires another medical diagnosis, treatment and research parameters to be followed and evolved.

"This patient also had features of inflammation in the brain triggered by ongoing cytokine storm with hyper ferritinemia suggesting severe macrophage activation syndrome. With Covid-19 virus triggering multiple processes attacking vital organs, it is creating significant challenge to clinicians. Government should promote both clinical and basic science research in Covid-19 so that clinicians gets more information and better understanding to manage this nasty infectious disease better," said Dr Patel.