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LATE SEQUELAE OF COVID-19<br />
BREATHLESS!<br />
A growing body of evidence suggests that the<br />
scientific community may have grossly underestimated<br />
the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on the human body<br />
S HARACHAND<br />
Sidharth Loke, a 33-year-old architect from Mumbai has<br />
been complaining of memory loss, difficulty in focusing,<br />
confusion, dizziness etc for several days. At times he<br />
cannot even recall the names of familiar household items like<br />
a toothbrush. He just sits and stares, unable to function; or<br />
wanders around, like a zombie. These problems are wreaking<br />
havoc on his professional life. Loke had no pre-existing<br />
ailments when he was infected with SARS-CoV-2 via his wife,<br />
a bank employee, a month ago. Loke’s was a brief illness,<br />
punctuated by fever and throat pain, which lasted only for<br />
a couple of days.<br />
And he’s not alone. Thousands of people are<br />
suffering from what is vaguely termed ‘COVID brain<br />
fog’ and other debilitating ailments after successfully<br />
fighting off a SARS-CoV-2 infection.<br />
These fluctuating symptoms continue to<br />
haunt COVID-19 survivors for months, often<br />
severely impairing their ability to return to<br />
their normal lives.<br />
Usually, a negative test result means<br />
the pathogen is officially gone from one’s<br />
system, but in the case of COVID-19, there<br />
is increasing evidence that it may not be<br />
so. Persistent symptoms, such as heaviness<br />
in chest, breathlessness, muscle pains and<br />
fatigue have been haunting survivors for<br />
months.<br />
Differing symptoms<br />
COVID-19, which affected over 60 million<br />
people worldwide as of 25th Nov <strong>2020</strong>, is<br />
<strong>December</strong> <strong>2020</strong> / FUTURE MEDICINE / 29
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