COVID-19: Ghana to record more non-infectious diseases
Dr Emmanuel Ahiable, COVID-19 Case Management Lead at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge) says Ghana is likely to record more cases of non-infectious disease due to post COVID-19 complications.
He, therefore, stressed the need for health workers specialised in non-communicable diseases to be ready to assist persons who developed complications after recovering from the viral infection.
Dr Ahiable in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said some researches had shown that severe COVID-19 infections caused seizures and temporary paralysis and encouraged recovered patients to seek the right medical attention for the complications they developed after recovery to avoid deaths.
He noted that three patients who recovered from critical to severe COVID-19 infections at the Ridge COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit had died after reporting back to the facility with a breathing difficulty complication, with one currently with the complication, on a mechanical ventilator at the Unit.
“People are dying more now, not from the viral infection, but as a result of post COVID-19 complications,” the COVID-19 Case Management Lead, added.
Dr Ahiable said critical to severe coronavirus infections caused lasting damages to the lungs, heart, brain and created blood clot in the body, which must get attention of specialists.
He said it also affected the functionality of the liver and kidney, causing mood swings and consistent fatigue in a recovered patient, all, post COVID-19 complications.
Dr Ahiable said other complications were stroke, diabetes, difficulty in breathing, and hypertension, adding that, the virus could also create scares in the lungs leading to a long term breathing problem and fatigue.
He said it was also discovered that “Neuro COVID” could affect the brain, making it foggy and subsequently causing memory loss.
“At Ridge for instance, we have had an instance, where a recovered patient developed diabetes as a post COVID-19 infection complication. We have also seen cases, where two people have developed stroke after recovery,” the COVID-19 Case Management Lead stressed.
Dr Ahiable, therefore, emphasized the importance of observing social distancing, washing hands with soap under running water frequently, and the wearing of nose masks.
The country’s latest update on the Ghana Health Service (GHS) website indicates that it has recorded 6,352 active cases with 464 deaths, 64,658 recoveries out of the 71,533 infections recorded so far.
Coronaviruses are said to be a large group of viruses that are common among animals.
In rare cases, they are what scientists call zoonotic – they can be transmitted from animals to humans, according to the US centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
They are said to be the cause of dangerous diseases with incubation period between 3-14 days.
Signs and symptoms are; fever, runny nose, body ache, sore throat and possibly a headache.
Source: GNA