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COVID-19 recovered patients suffer with inflamed thyroid gland

At least four recovered patients return within four to eight weeks after discharge with complaints of fever, neck pain, body ache and difficulty in swallowing, among others. Some even lose five to 10 kilos in that period.

COVID-19 recovered patients suffer with inflamed thyroid gland
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For most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all.

But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”.

It has come to light that every month since the COVID-19 pandemic began in Mumbai, doctors have been noticing a strange pattern. At least four recovered patients return within four to eight weeks after discharge with complaints of fever, neck pain, body ache and difficulty in swallowing, among others. Some even lose five to 10 kilos in that period.

After doing a battery of tests by the doctors across world, they have revealed that the ACE2 receptor that SARS-CoV-2 uses to infect the body is present on the respiratory systems, such as thyroid and adrenal gland. The doctors have diagnosed it as subacute thyroiditis, a painful inflammation of the thyroid gland, which plays a major role in regulating the body’s metabolism and growth.

The emergence of post-COVID symptoms such as subacute thyroiditis are a cause for greater anxiety among patients and their families.

Though subacute thyrioditis is self-limiting and the patient does not need life-long anti-thyroid medication. While thyroid disorders are common, with some estimates that it roughly affects every third Indian. The link between subacute thyroiditis and coronavirus is not fully understood. It is possibly caused by the body’s immune response to COVID-19.

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