BENGALURU: Doctors have been seeing cases of Thyroiditis in patients who have either had Covid-19 infection or have taken the Covid-19 vaccine. This condition involves swelling of the thyroid gland, leading to persistent fever, neck pain, difficulty in swallowing, tenderness in the neck, shivering, diarrhoea, palpitations etc.
At Manipal Hospital, Dr Sunil Havannavar, Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine, has come across seven to eight patients in the past year. “In this condition, people experience hyperthyroidism, where more hormones are secreted than usual by the thyroid gland. Fever would not come down in these patients and tests for dengue and malaria would also come negative. When we cross-checked with scientific literature from other countries, we came across the link between Subacute Thyroiditis post Covid-19 illness,” said Dr Havannavar, adding that this condition is a result of an increase in antibodies.
From one or two cases per year, prior to the pandemic, the numbers have increased to seven to eight cases during the pandemic, he informed, adding that anti-inflammatory medication and a short course of steroids is administered. Thyroiditis is common post any viral infection, including Covid-19, said Dr Subramanian Kannan, Consultant Endocrinology, Narayana Health City.
“Both literature and observations have shown that the Covid-19 vaccine can cause these symptoms. While 90-95 per cent of the patients get better in four weeks, a few need 8-12 weeks. Treatment is only supportive management, including paracetamol, painkillers and beta blockers if fever and heart rate are high. People without a past history of thyroid illness are also reporting this condition post Covid-19 infection or vaccine,” Dr Kannan added.
Dr Pradeep Hosamani H, senior consultant and ENT surgeon at Apollo Hospitals, who has seen a couple of Thyroiditis cases, said the condition is self-limiting and can be resolved without treatment. “We started seeing these cases after the second wave, a week or two after Covid-19 infection. It is not worrisome and is prevalent more in middle-aged people. Some patients may report variations in thyroid hormone levels and some may not. Hormone levels will return to normal in two or three weeks,” Dr Hosamani added.Scientific studies on this have been published in European Thyroid Journal, Frontiers in Endocrinology and National Library of Medicine.