What is HYPOXIA how it affects humans
• in March 2020, a Covid-19 patient came to a
hospital in Indonesia with a fever and cough. He
was clinically well and was able to walk, chat
easily, scroll the mobile screen and looked
comfortable. His blood pressure, pulse and body
temperature were in the normal range. But when
doctors checked, his oxygen level was 77 per
cent.
HYPOXIA
• This was one of the early cases of Covid-19 where the
the patient did not know that the body was starving of
oxygen without manifesting known symptoms of the
condition. The world woke up to what is happy hypoxia in
Covid-19 cases.
• India has reported similar cases at least since July last
year. But such cases were not in great numbers. Now,
doctors treating Covid-19 patients say a substantial
percentage of Covid-19 patients are having happy
hypoxia.
HYPOXIA
• Covid-19 primarily affects the respiratory system
including lungs and blood vessels.
• What is happening in Covid-19 is that the
infection is reducing the operational capacity of
the lungs, and causing inflammation in the blood
vessels leading to clotting obstructing the flow of
blood.
WHAT DO DOCTORS SAY?
• “This is a serious condition among Covid-19 patients. In
my estimate, up to 30 per cent of Covid-19 patients
needing hospitalisation have had happy hypoxia,” said
Dr Rajkamal Choudhry, associate professor at the
Department of Medicine of the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical
College, Bhagalpur in Bihar.
• Dr Choudhry, who has worked with the World Health
Organisation (WHO) for six years, said, “In some cases
of happy hypoxia, oxygen saturation had dropped to 20-
30 per cent. This has been a major cause of deaths
among Covid-19 patients in hospitals.”
HOW TO IDENTIFY HAPPY HYPOXIA?
• This is where oxygen saturation monitoring helps.
Doctors advise Covid-19 patients to regularly check their
oxygen levels using an oximeter. If it drops below 90 per
cent, immediate medical oxygen is required as oxygen
starvation can impact vital organs severely.
• While cough, sore throat, fever and headache are
common symptoms of Covid-19, some other symptoms
should be closely observed for identifying happy
hypoxia.
Comments