70% Covid patients fail to heal a year after infection

Medical experts in the country have said a significant number of Covid-19 survivors are grappling with the long term effects of the virus which has affected their productivity and quality of life.

The experts were reacting to a new report from the United Kingdom’s Leicester University which indicated that only a third of 804 Covid-19 survivors got totally healed after one year. 

“The proportion of patients reporting full recovery was unchanged between five months (501 [25·5 percent] of 1965) and one year (232 [28·9 percent] of 804). Factors associated with being less likely to report full recovery at 1 year were female sex, obesity and invasive mechanical ventilation,” reads the report published April 23 in the scientific journal The Lancet.  Fatigue, aching muscle, poor sleep, breathlessness, joint pain or swelling, slowing down in thinking, general body pain, short-term memory loss, and limb weakness were the commonest symptoms that persisted in 2,320 participants discharged from the UK hospital between March 7, 2020, and April 18, 2021.

Dr Bruce Kirenga, the director of Makerere University Lung Institute, while commenting on the report, said cases of long term effects of Covid-19 are there in Uganda but the exact burden is unknown. 

“We are going to start interviewing about 2,000 [Covid-19] survivors [to understand the burden]. But I think 29 percent is too low. Significant physical incapacity should be lower,” said Dr Kirenga, who has been treating Covid-19 in Mulago Hospital.

Covid-19 has so far killed 3,596 of the 164,069 it has cumulatively infected, according to Ministry of Health statistics. A total of 100,205 have recovered from the infection. 

Mr Paul Kyaterekera, the president of Medical Clinical Officers Professionals Uganda, said it is hard to tell that a patient is suffering from long term effects of Covid-19 because medical workers often don’t ask them or the patient may not be willing to disclose.

A clinical officer at Namwendwa Health Centre IV in Kamuli District, Ms Mebra Kakazi, said she has seen some Covid-19 survivors who present with hypertension. 

“The inflammation caused by Covid-19 can lead to narrowing of blood vessels and this can cause blood pressure to increase,” she said.

Dr Herbert Luswata, the secretary-general of the Uganda Medical Association , however,  said some Covid-19 survivors also have diabetes.

“There are many organs in the body, the pancreas is the one that produces hormones that control sugars in our body. When Covid-19 attacks, it affects this organ and loses control. That is what causes the problem because the body can no longer control the sugar,” he said.

Dr Charles Olaro, the director of clinical services at the Ministry of Health, said all recovered patients who are experiencing the side effects can reach nearby health facilities for basic care and that complex cases can be referred by medical experts to specialised facilities.

“The long terms have been reported but the complexity of the condition will continue evolving with time. Right now, if they are chest complications, we get them to be reviewed by the chest physician,” Dr Olaro said.

Handling Covid-19 effects in Uganda

Dr Rosemary Byanyima, the acting director of Mulago Hospital, said the long term effects of Covid-19 are rising as a public health concern.  She said they have set up a clinic in their outpatient department for handling such cases.

Dr Byanyima said the after-effects are caused by psychological issues or actual damages to the body that may take time to wane. “If the lungs get inflamed, it may heal but leave scars and that may leave a long term effect,” she said.