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, and one of them died due to massive bleeding, authorities at a leading private hospital here said on Thursday.
Liver abscess (pus formation in liver) is commonly caused by a parasite known as entamoeba histolytica, which is transmitted through contaminated food and water, doctors said.
These patients, 10 men and four women in the age group of 28-74, were brought to the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the last two months with 'unusual manifestations', doctors said.
"We saw for the first time in last two months unusually large and multiple liver abscesses in 14 patients after recovery from Covid-19 infection," a spokesperson of the facility said.
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," according to Dr Anil Arora, chairman, institute of liver gastroenterology and pancreaticobiliary sciences, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
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.
