Queues of people with coronavirus have already formed in hospitals: not everyone is bedridden

With the start of the second wave of the SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus and only as the number of cases increased, the problems seemed to grow at the same rate. For some time now, people have been complaining about the busy work of the National Public Health Center (NVSC), where people only need to call after a few dozen attempts when it comes to consulting, deciding on isolation, or investigation. .

The teacher also realizes this problem and says that we can hardly still say that the situation is manageable.

“We advertise a lot in the press that we are in control of the situation, but in reality the system is very backward, it is very difficult to call the NVSC, the answers are given very late, after a few days, when a person walks somewhere during those days. Although in summer more specialists could be trained. We have little control over the situation, because we do everything very late, ”said the infectologist.

Prof. According to A. Laiškonis, before the vaccine appears, when it is possible to start vaccinating it, the incidence of the new virus will be quite high. Therefore, it is not worth waiting for a full quarantine in a few weeks.

“I have no doubt that we will continue to celebrate Christmas,” said the interlocutor.

Immunity itself can kill

According to the infectious doctor, we can now see more deaths in middle-aged people due to the fact that the quarantine is no longer so strictly enforced. In addition, serious comorbidities contribute.

“Currently, we have people of all ages who have various comorbidities. Statistics never show exactly what the deceased’s comorbidities are. He may have had an oncological disease, possibly being treated with immunosuppressive drugs. And a young person can already receive a kidney transplant, a bone marrow transplant. In such a patient, the coronavirus may be the last disease that contributes to death, “said the interlocutor.

The body of a person with a chronic illness or other disease is already fighting an existing disease, and the contributing coronavirus is the last straw that has wiped out the immune system.

“Immunity is in a constant state of tension, in some cases it is still suppressed, and the contributing coronavirus infection provides a very difficult and unfortunate solution,” said prof. A. Laiškonis.

Could it be that a 40-year-old man who does not suffer from chronic diseases and other serious illnesses dies from coronavirus?

“It just came to our attention then. There are people whose immune system reacts very violently. We call it a cytokine storm. When a microorganism enters the body, the human immune system not only fights it, but also causes so many changes in the body. that the body itself begins to burn. By neutralizing the pathogen, it dies itself, “explained the doctor.

The teacher also gives an example: meningococcal infection in children.

“A healthy child, who is not affected by anything, dies suddenly in 3 hours. Everyone has an individual immune system and we do not have a single rule of thumb about what gets sick more easily and what becomes more difficult. Sometimes it happens that a person who has many comorbidities adapts to the virus and falls ill faster than someone who does not contract anything ”, said the interlocutor.

So immunity itself can save or kill.

“Now it is clear that perhaps immunity to the coronavirus is only half a year. It may be necessary to get vaccinated in the same way as against the flu: every year,” said A. Laiškonis.

A patient with coronavirus already queues to go to bed

Professor Ligita Jančorienė, head of the Infectious Diseases Corps at VUL Santara Clinics, said that currently there are even queues of people due to hospital beds.

“Because coronavirus patients have a great shortage of beds as soon as they no longer need oxygen, their condition gradually begins to improve, and we prescribe it immediately, because several others who need hospital treatment are waiting. Sometimes it is necessary to maintain to the patient in the reception department for a day to get a place in one place or another, “said the doctor.

Of the identified coronavirus cases, approximately 5 percent require hospitalization and of that 5 percent, approximately 10 percent require hospitalization. needs resuscitation treatment. As the professor said, hospitals do not have so many beds ready because so far no one has stopped scheduled services.

“Medicine was attacked that scheduled services were suspended during the first wave, now they are not stopped as much as possible. After all, there are no empty buildings where we can install units for the coronavirus. Some unit closes, the coronavirus unit opens.

If it weren’t for the introduction of quarantine, now the situation would be even worse, “said Prof. L. Jančorienė.

As L. Jančorienė said at a press conference on Friday, chronic diseases do not necessarily lead to a bad way out of the disease, because each organism reacts to the disease completely differently.

“There are really young men with ECMO right now. Each organism responds to infection differently. Research is now being done that perhaps genetic factors can determine why a person of the same age and sex has a mild form and another has a mild form. severe form of the disease, and the infectious dose may be significant and the body’s own response may be different.

Chronic comorbidities do not necessarily lead to a poor prognosis. Sometimes the infection itself can be a rapid and severe progression to respiratory failure and rapid human death. Of course, we saw the same with influenza infection. This is not a distinguishing feature of COVID-19, “said the doctor.

The professor also points out that deaths also occur from people who do not arrive at the medical institution on time.

“Sometimes there are cases where a person stays at home for quite a long time. And this week, there were even two deaths in the admissions department because the person applied too late or was picked up at some other treatment center, the person already I was in serious condition, but a recent COVID-19 test, perhaps a long wait, for a variety of reasons. The most common reason is a late application, “L. Jančorienė said at the press conference.

Estela Tamašauskienė, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at LSMU Kaunas Hospital, also agreed that due to the extremely delayed cases, the solution is often the saddest. He also told a little more about the coronavirus and death at age 30 at LSMU Kaunas Hospital.

“The person had very serious comorbidities, was hospitalized and lay down very often before the infection. It was not the death of a healthy young man. Due to neglected cases, it was definitely some of us. One of them, when the person arrived for the night, he had already been intubated the next day. Talking to his loved ones, it turned out that without fever or weakness, there was no shortness of breath. After a prolonged fever, the man went to the admissions department for tests and it turned out that the lung damage was already very severe. Although the patient was absolutely healthy, conscious, we lost him less than a day later. The disease is difficult to predict, so there should not be a long delay at home, “warned E. Tamašauskienė.

The age of patients varies

“If in the first wave it seemed that the disease was dangerous only for the elderly, now the contingent is expanding. In the hospital, we have patients from more diverse age groups: some seriously ill patients are between 50 and 59 years old, there are also people in the 40-49 age group who did not have chronic diseases, and we contracted it because the coronavirus complicated pneumonia.

During the first wave, there were only a few of them, most were already respectable old patients with very serious comorbidities: after various strokes, heart attacks, diabetics, nursing, brought from the foci of the nursing home. At that time, it seemed like it was just the problem of the older people and for the younger ones, things ended easily.

Now the age of seriously ill patients is diversifying, ”said Saulius Tvirbutas, representative of the LSMU Kaunas Hospital previously.