A fit and healthy doctor is currently “fighting for his life” after becoming paralysed due to the effects of contracting coronavirus. The shocking effects of the virus on the 44-year-old cardiologist were revealed on BBC Radio Humberside’s Breakfast Show with Kofi Smiles this morning. Dr Sanjay Gupta revealed that a close friend and colleague of his was experiencing paralysis and had been placed on a ventilator after contracting coronavirus, despite being a fit and healthy man. Dr Gupta told Kofi: “In my friend's case he is a cardiologist like I am, he is 44 and the father of four daughters and was completely well with no problems whatsoever. “But, he went away to see his mum, came back, developed the virus, started recovering from the virus and then started noticing a progressive paralysis of his legs going up to his arms, going up to his chest and couldn’t breathe. “He found himself needing to go on to a ventilation machine, where he still finds himself unfortunately.” Dr Gupta says that his colleague’s case reveals the “devastating” consequences the coronavirus can have on some patients, with only 31 in the world reporting symptoms of paralysis. “What we are beginning to see with the virus apart from kind of making you breathless it can also have other consequences,” he said. “It can have auto immune reactions, it can attack your nerves. We looked and there are 31 other people like that in the world whose nerves were affected by this virus and they stopped breathing because they became paralysed.” “It certainly has been described in a few other people. We think that that is what it does and it would be too much of a coincidence otherwise in a fit and well man. “Really concerning. When something like this happens, albeit very rarely, when it starts effecting your nerves you can’t do anything. “You just wait and wait and you spend your time essentially being paralysed not knowing whether you are going to recover any function or not. “This is terrible. Very scary.” A second spike nationwide recently has seen nearly 500 new cases in Hull and East Yorkshire in the last four days. Eight patients are currently in Hull’s hospitals with coronavirus and one is in intensive care. Hull hospitals confirmed earlier today that it had recorded a further coronavirus-related death for the first time in four days, bringing the total in the region to 216. Dr Gupta told Kofi this morning that although the number of cases is “a real concern” the number of coronavirus deaths does not mirror those seen in the first peak of cases, which is “encouraging news”. “We can definitely say that the second peak is here,” he said. “We have certainly seen a large number of cases in our hospitals. “The interesting thing this time however is that the number of deaths does not seem to be similar to when we had similar numbers in the first peak, so that is encouraging news. “The absolute number of deaths is what matters and we are not seeing so many so that is reassuring to me. “Although, it is a real concern I think it is going to be disruptive to the whole system again.” Source
