New Delhi: As per reports from the medical health experts from the national capital, the new variant of the novel coronavirus is much more dangerous than before. It shows the potential to surreptitiously dive deep into the lungs, therefore, making itself very difficult from getting diagnosed. Not only is this new variant of the novel coronavirus lethal but also very sneaky in nature as compared to the earlier variant.
City hospitals in Delhi report that even as the patients show the classical signs of the COVID 19 infection, they however do not test positive for the viral infection. Even the RT-PCR tests, which are considered as an optimum measure to diagnose the viral infection find it difficult to detect the virus, even after multiple trials.
According to Dr. Ashish Chaudhry, the Managing Director of Akash Healthcare, the patients who should symptoms of fever, cough, and shortness of breath, after a CT scan of the lungs showed light-colored or grey patches which in medical terms is referred to as patchy ground-glass opacity. He remarked this condition to be a defining characteristic of COVID 19.
He added that through a method of diagnosis called the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) where a scope with a measured amount of fluid is passed through the nose and mouth to the lungs, the virus could be detected. He said that all the people with symptoms who tested negative through classical Covid 19 tests had tested positive through this test.
Dr. Pratbha Kale, associate professor of clinical microbiology at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences said that the virus could not be detected from the swab samples as the virus did not colonize the nasal and the throat area from which the sample was collected. She added that the virus sticks to the protein cells found in the lungs called the ACE receptors which can be detected after the fluid samples from the lungs are diagnosed for the contagion.
Dr. Vivek Nangia, the chief of the pulmonology division at Max Healthcare said that 15-20% of COVID patients suffered from this problem. He further added that it is a serious problem as the undiagnosed covid 19 patients will go on to infect people in non-Covid areas and also cause a delay in the treatment.
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