Delhi: Covid-recovered dies of liver abscess; 13 others discharged from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital

NEW DELHI: Fourteen post-Covid patients, eight of whom had received steroids during treatment, were diagnosed with “unusually large” and multiple liver abscesses in the last two months. One of them even died due to massive bleeding, the authorities at a leading private hospital said on Thursday.
Liver abscess (pus formation in liver) is commonly caused by a parasite, entamoeba histolytica, which is transmitted through contaminated food and water, a doctor said.
These patients, 10 men and four women in the age group of 28-74, were brought to the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) in the past two months with “unusual manifestations”, the doctor added. The doctors suspect that poor nutrition and use of steroids could have led to pus formation and compromised their livers.
“What we found unusual was that, after recovery from Covid, patients who were otherwise immunocompetent, within 22 days had large areas of both lobes of liver filled with pus at multiple locations, requiring drainage and hospitalisation,” said Dr Anil Arora, chairman, institute of liver gastroenterology and pancreaticobiliary sciences, SGRH.
While the lives of 13 of these patients could be saved, one of them with large multiple abscesses died due to massive bleeding after rupture of abscess in the abdominal cavity, he said, adding the rest were stable and had been discharged.
The doctors said all the patients had “fever and upper abdominal pain, while three of them also had associated lower GI (gastrointestinal) bleeding with black stool”.
Eight of these patients had received steroids for the management of Covid-19 symptoms, Arora said. Six of them had multiple large abscesses in both lobes of the liver, of which, five had unusually large abscess (over 8cm), the doctor said. tnn