Coronavirus | ‘renal patients at high risk from COVID-19

 A rally was organised ahead of World Kidney Day from NU Hospitals in Bengaluru on

Wednesday. special arrangement 

 

When a family of three from Bengaluru, including a 53-year-old renal transplant individual,

contracted COVID-19 in August, the family only prayed that the disease should not create more

complications in the kidney recipient.

 

While two members from the family developed classical COVID-19 symptoms, including high

fever, cough, and loss of taste/smell, the person who had undergone the transplant had very

mild symptoms. Doctors said this was because of his poor immune response due to

immunosuppressants.

 

City-based nephrologists, who have noticed a high incidence of COVID-19 among people with

kidney disease and other severe chronic medical conditions, said although persons with renal

issues and those who have undergone transplant did not exhibit classical symptoms, they were

at a higher risk of more severe illness.

 

To study this aspect, a group of doctors from Manipal Hospitals documented the impact of

COVID-19 on patients with kidney disease, kidney recipients, and those on dialysis in a review

article titled ‘Coronavirus Disease 2019 and the Kidney’. The article, published in the Journal

of Internal Medicine , an official publication of the Association of Physicians of India,

Karnataka chapter, was compiled by Ravi Jangamani, Chakravarthy Thirumal, and Sankaran

Sundar from the Department of Nephrology at Manipal Hospitals in Bengaluru.

 

“Besides our own findings, we have also put together global observations regarding the impact

of the virus on the kidneys of patients,” Dr. Jangamani told The Hindu on Thursday. “Patients

with chronic kidney diseases (CKD) and immune- mediated kidney diseases should be

regarded as at risk to experience a more severe disease mediated kidney diseases should be

regarded as at risk to experience a more severe disease of immunosu- ppression drugs,” he said.

Dr. Sundar, head of international transplant services at the hospital, said that 20% to 40% of

critically ill COVID-19 patients who did not have any renal issues prior to the infection had

developed acute kidney injury.

 

“Those predisposed with renal issues were the worst hit. As most did not exhibit fever or other

classical symptoms, they did not seek timelymedical advice and went for self-medication. This

led to complications at a later stage and we have noticed high mortality in such patients,” he

said.

 

Pointing out that the pandemic had hit those on dialysis the most, Dr. Sundar said, “Dialysis

patients had a high exposure to the virus as they had no other go but to visit hospitals for the

procedure.”

 

Dr. Jangamani said that over 20% of patients who sought dialysis at Manipal Hospitals were

Infected.

 

Dialysis patients who were infected by the virus in the city had a tough time in the initial

months of the pandemic as COVID-dedicated hospitals did not have dialysis facilities.

However, things changed for the better after August when private hospitals set up dedicated

COVID-19 wards.

 

To mark World Kidney Day, Manipal Hospitals provided free vaccination to everyone

undergoing dialysis at all its centres.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/coronavirus-renal-patients-at-high-riskfrom-

covid-19/article34056718.ece