HYDERABAD: In a development that has left clinicians intrigued, many kidney patients on dialysis or on transplanted kidneys managed their Covid-19 infection at home without much difficulty during the third wave of the pandemic.These observations were made by experts in both Gandhi Hospital and NIMS which are renowned medical centres in Telangana for their Nephrology departments.
“The number of patients who were infected was extremely high this time as against in previous wave, but hardly anyone required admission to hospital. A handful of the patients, out of anxiety, decided to take admission but were discharged in a day or two. A majority of them managed the infection at home and those on routine dialysis schedules came to the hospital as usual, completed dialysis and left,” said Dr Sree Bhushan Raju, Professor and Head of the Department, Nephrology, NIMS.
A similar observation was made by Dr Manjusha Yadla, Professor and Head of the Department, Nephrology Gandhi Hospital. “We had 30 to 40 Covid-19 dialysis cases treated in the hospital, which is far fewer than before. Many of them were here only because they were previously in another hospital being treated for their condition and incidentally turned positive. Since Gandhi Hospital has an exclusive setup for Covid-19 dialysis cases they were referred here,” she explained.
Amongst their routine dialysis cases very few required hospital support as there was very little lung or multi-organ involvement. “The infection stayed largely in the upper respiratory tract,” Dr Manjusha Yadla said.What has turned out to be more interesting for doctors was that the majority of the patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) never took the vaccine due to fear of unnecessary complications and yet survived the much-feared third wave without the need for hospitalisation.
“We were surprised that Omicron was mild to the extent that even without taking the vaccine and even without having any known prior exposure to Covid-19, patients have recovered well. This has prompted us to take up an analysis of the clinical data across the three waves,” said Dr Sree Bhushan.
He further stated that most significantly, in kidney transplant patients who got infected with Covid -19 in the third wave, the kidney rejection symptoms have been minimal. “This is all the more surprising considering the fact that routine viral / bacterial infections can trigger kidney rejection in transplant cases,” Dr Sree Bhushan said.
While deaths did occur due to Covid-19, the doctors attribute them to a combination of Delta - Omicron in infected patients or obesity and more than one co-morbidity. “In Gandhi Hospital, we are seeing mortality rate in about one-fourth of the patients who got admitted. It is not to say that deaths did not occur at all but the number was significantly lower,” reasoned Dr Manjusha Yadla.
Delta-Omicron combo caused deaths: Docs
While deaths due to Covid-19 did occur, the doctors attribute them to a combination of Delta - Omicron in infected patients or obesity and more than one co-morbidity